The Judas Kiss
Closed 2h 30m
The Judas Kiss
79

The Judas Kiss NYC Reviews and Tickets

79%
(89 Ratings)
Positive
87%
Mixed
12%
Negative
1%
Members say
Great acting, Intelligent, Absorbing, Slow, Great writing

About the Show

BAM presents David Hare's multidimensional study of esteemed 19th-century playwright Oscar Wilde (Rupert Everett), who quickly went from success to exile.

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Show-Score Member Reviews (89)

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157 Reviews | 33 Followers
83
Clever, Great acting, Great writing, Intelligent, Slow

See it if you're an Oscar Wilde and/or Rupert Everett fan, you like magnificent acting & weighty themes (love, betrayal, history of gay oppression)

Don't see it if you don't like a languid pace, British accents, stories with gay themes, Rupert Everett, Oscar Wilde, downbeat scenarios; object to nudity.

262 Reviews | 116 Followers
83
Clever, Great acting, Profound, Edgy, Entertaining

See it if You know and like your literary history/Oscar Wilde/Hare. Everett is as complete as expected. Plot isn't overly complex, but the themes are.

Don't see it if You're not willing to pay attention to keep up with the witty dialogue. Definite nudity, sexual themes and innuendo. You're homophobic.

97 Reviews | 64 Followers
82
Edgy, Indulgent, Slow, Thought-provoking

See it if u want Hare's imagining of Wilde‘s perception of & reaction to his indecency trial & the respective roles of his lover, friends & family.

Don't see it if you'd be uncomfortable w/ 20 mins of full-frontal male nudity, sexual themes, selfishness & betrayal, or strident & screechy declarations.

754 Reviews | 127 Followers
82
Intelligent, Slow, Entertaining, Melodramatic

See it if you love the writing of Oscar Wilde. Rupert Everett is wonderful as the witty and the dramatic writer.

Don't see it if you have issues with nudity. There are several sex scenes. In addition the script assumes that the audience knows the Wilde's biography.

1123 Reviews | 326 Followers
81
Great acting, Intelligent, Masterful, Relevant, Thought-provoking

See it if You enjoy top-notch acting.

Don't see it if You are close-minded.

77 Reviews | 36 Followers
81
Absorbing, Intense, Thought-provoking, Great acting, Murky

See it if You like good English acting, are fascinated by Oscar Wilde and how a brilliant writer can make bad life choices.

Don't see it if It will be a big minus that it's hard to hear and the motives for Bosie's and Wilde's actions are not satisfactorily explained.

63 Reviews | 20 Followers
80
Great acting, Masterful, Riveting, Absorbing

See it if You enjoy first class acting and a show that makes you rethink your definition of unconditional love.

Don't see it if You're not interested in a story about questionable actions and gay centric themes.

180 Reviews | 367 Followers
80
Great acting, Intense

See it if An excellent production of a mediocre play; great acting and staging

Don't see it if uneven material; avoid if offended by nudity, heavy on drama - light on action.

Critic Reviews (37)

The Wrap
May 17th, 2016

"Critics can now see 'The Judas Kiss' for what it always has been: one of the great plays of the late 20th century...Everett doesn’t make all the difference, which is not to say his performance is anything short of a revelation...As expected, Everett is great at delivering bon mots and epigrams. A lesser playwright would have filled the play with Wilde’s own words...What is totally unexpected in Everett’s portrayal is a heavy lugubriousness that somehow never bogs down the humor."
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Wolf Entertainment Guide
May 20th, 2016

“Engrossingly staged by director Neil Armfield with a superb performance as Oscar Wilde by Rupert Everett...One comes away with admiration for Everett’s performance and a fresh view of the tragedy of what Wilde had to endure in the face of the vicious prejudice of his time, and the devastating complications it brought to his life and relationships.”
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Towleroad
May 23rd, 2016

“The revival delivers neither weightless comedic banter nor thrilling tragic conflict...The one aspect of director Neil Armfield’s staid production likely to raise the pulse is its prolonged stretches of male nudity...Despite occasional outbursts of genuine feeling, Everett’s Wilde seems remote, more put-on than lived in. Rowe’s one-note performance as his young sparring partner doesn’t help, nor does the fact that they seem anything but in love.”
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Off Off Online
May 17th, 2016

"Rupert Everett has found the role of his career...Neil Armfield’s staging has given Hare’s play the heft of real tragedy...Everett handles the timing and the wit with ease, and he’s physically right as well...Everett inhabits the contradictions, the wit, the passion and the foolishness, in a multifaceted, riveting performance...Perhaps it’s a bit of a stretch for Hare to cast Wilde as a Christ figure, but it’s not hammered at heavily."
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The Huffington Post
May 30th, 2016

"Wilde is played to perfection by Rupert Everett, who channels the legendary writer at every turn—his wit, charm, exasperating ways and inexplicable Bosie obsession. His sharp, rueful performance alone is worth the price of admission...Hare tries to reconcile Wilde’s public and private selves, to determine why he participates in his own downfall...'The Judas Kiss' isn’t so much a dramatic effort as a compelling examination into the complexities and contradictions of Wilde."
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Financial Times (UK)
May 17th, 2016

"Everett delivers a convincing portrayal of Wilde during his public disgrace that captures the author’s endearing combination of wit, vanity, kindness and self-destructiveness. Alas, there’s not much else to compliment here. Under Armfield’s brisk direction, the other actors all do a decent job. But they are trapped by Hare’s cartoonish text, which turns a complex and fascinating story into a crude morality play."
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Blog Critics
May 19th, 2016

“With impressive dexterity, Hare has written dialogue for Wilde that measures up to the man’s legendary wit. For his part, Everett achieves the elusive theatrical magic of a larger-than-life yet utterly believable performance. Indeed the whole action bubbles in a heady broth of elevated naturalism, a recipe Hare balances so masterfully...A few cheap lapses mar the script here...All in all, we’re lucky that Armfield and the Chichester Festival Theatre have crafted this revival.”
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scribicide
May 23rd, 2016

"Though Mr. Everett is controlled enough to translate Wilde’s puckish humor into bitterness, he cannot rehabilitate a script that is tonally inappropriate and employs moralizing to mask emotional vacancy. Mr. Hare wrote in an introduction to 'The Judas Kiss' that 'the true subject of my play is not Wilde, but love; not Bosie, but betrayal.' When the kiss finally does come, I found no evidence of either."
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