The Last Day of Judas Iscariot
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The Last day of Judas Iscariot
The Last days of Judas Iscariot was the first play I had watched in America. Also, this was my first time to see people acting so close to the audience. I felt that this play was so different from Chinese plays. Even though I did not understand half of the play, their acting was full of emotion, passion, and honesty. It made me feel like I had a connection with all the characters. Language was not important to me anyway because I was so moved by some of the main characters such as the two lawyers, Saint Monica, Judas, and Satan. They were very impressive and brilliant. All the information and emotions they effectively delivered to me through their acting. Therefore, The Last Days of Judas Iscariot was a successful play because the actors expressed themselves appropriately.
First, I want to talk about the environment of the play. Generally, the environment was very helpful for me to understand the play, especially the sounds. In the beginning, along with the sound of rain, I slowly started to calm down and pay attention to the play. I began to wonder what would happen next. The light was illuminating the middle of the stage. The way the stage was set up, the audiences could see the play from all angles. Because of the small stage, I could see the facial expressions of the actors easily and clearly, meanwhile I could also see the expression of the audiences. So the environment and atmosphere worked well together in the play.
In my opinion I think Yusef, the male lawyer, was the best actor among all the actors. There are several reasons why I think he was so great. First, his facial expressions were abundant and vivid. As an actor, facial expressions are one of the most important ways to express emotion. The audience can feel a characters mood by looking at their face. Yusef did really good job. I could see his face sometimes turn to red when he was agitated. He slightly smiled when he was complacent. You could easily see his emotion on his face. Also, his movement was pretty good. I think he was the actor who used body language the most. He always walked around the entire stage to make sure the audience could see him and also he knew which position was the best between two or three characters. Sometimes he sat, sometimes he squatted, sometimes he jumped, and sometimes he fell on the floor. Also, his acting was so real and sincere. Sometimes, I even think I was watching a really good actor from a movie. I mean his acting skill can be as good as the famous actors from TV shows and movies. Furthermore, his voice tone was proper. The way he talked was really intense. He knew how to change his tone in different situations. He was really loud when he got angry or excited. He was quiet when he was scared. In sum, he successfully made Yusef become a real person.
Yusef had a lot emotion and action during the play; I did not feel that was it was too much. When the female lawyer – Fabiana came out, I thought she acted a little bit too much in the beginning. I saw her keeping tidying up her clothes because she wanted to look nervous. However, I think she over acted a little bit because when she over acted, she looked a little bit fake. She should have done something else to show she was nervous. For example, she could walk around, she could change her tone, and also she could add more facial expression. Nevertheless, she was getting better later, especially when she was debating with the Judge Littlefield and Satan. During the debating, she was full of emotion and passion. She walked around and faced the audience. Its like she was trying to communicate with audience as