A crude way to get the message

In this live forever, me, me, me world, it's not easy talking about being a Christian. It's good to see the Almeida take on the show trial of Judas, Christianity's most unforgivable character, in Stephen Adly Guirgis's black comedy - but would the play just rehash that latest modish rubbishing of organised religion?

The start was unpromising - a painfully modern take with the actors speaking in Bronx slang and hip-hop characters flitting in and out, adding nothing but noise. I had to shield my ears from Judas's histrionic lawyer (Susan Lynch), who reminded me of an out-of-sorts Amy Winehouse. She and the play lacked subtlety - and when the crude comments about Christ and his apostles kicked in, it felt like a student rant.

Yet when the acting calmed, the script delivered. The appearance of lesser-known disciples, Mathias and Peter, was moving because it showed the risk they took following Christ and got across something of the basic Christian message: we can all be better if we have the courage to look in the mirror and ask the fundamental questions.

It was Satan, played by Douglas Henshall, as a Gucci-clad, all-knowing lounge lizard, who had the best lines. The moral characters were less interesting. Whenever Jesus appeared, he was simply decent and there for whoever needed him. One sympathised more with Joseph Mawle's Judas.

By the second half, the play made us think. Is evil inevitable? Are some people pre-destined or do we have a choice? Sigmund Freud seemed to defend Judas, and made a good breast of the argument (sorry, but see the play, there are worse jokes!) that nurture mucks people up.

The truth is more that decent people do bad things. Pilate (played as a dead ringer for former boxing star Chris Eubank) signed off the crucifixion with: 'I was an employee doing what I was asked to do.' It made me think of Enron.

We were left in no doubt that the playwright is wrestling with his own strident Catholicism. He has also worked hard trying to understand human frailty.

For me, the play took light with Satan's reappearance. His seen-it-all persona was brilliant - especially how he laid into the lawyers, revealing their failings and deficits (bulimia, failed relationships, small penis size). He showed evil for what it is, banal and everyday. That's the play's message: Satan doesn't tempt, and he doesn't make people do anything - humans can do it themselves. I've already tried to be nicer to people on the Tube today.

Until 10 May. 020 7359 4404, www.almeida.co.uk

The Last Days Of Judas Iscariot
Almeida Theatre
Almeida Street, Islington, N1 1TA