Stage Review: Poetic 'Judas' nearly seethes

Courtesy Hattiloo Theatre

Ekundayo Bandele as Goldie Street and Kristi Steele as Serra Street in "Judas Hands" at Hattiloo Theatre.

There are few real auteurs in the Memphis theater scene, but Ekundayo Bandele is one of them. As the executive director of Hattiloo Theatre, he has the space, time and know-how to carry out an artistic vision, from the moment the ink hits the page to the night the curtain closes.

Now running at the theater, the new drama "Judas Hands" finds Bandele immersed in a dark, Southern Gothic tale of his own invention. He also designed the lighting, worked on the sets and plays a starring role.

If ever it appears he's juggling one ball too many, it's in the show's direction. Another pair of sympathetic eyes on the project might have helped smooth out the rough edges that typically come with a new work.

But one can understand why he wanted so much control over a project steeped in poetic language and often unconventional in its storytelling. Just take the opening line, spoken by a poor washerwoman in her dingy apartment, somewhere in the 1930s South:

"It's a kitchen-oven morning buried deep down in the navel of July, and here I am just as there I was yesterday morning and the morning before that: inside of this newspaper flat where rats eat holes through the headlines."

The line provides a detailed snapshot of the misery and monotony that fill the lives of Serra Street, played by Kristi A. Steele, and her husband Goldie, an unemployed laborer who is glued to a phone, waiting for a call about a job.

Bandele's Goldie is a strong man, but not a very smart one. Being out of work, his idle hands are causing him to doubt himself and his marriage.

Meanwhile, his friend Theo (J.S. Tate) -- a smart, intelligent, and better-dressed man -- has designs on Serra. Another friend, Runny Rodger (Robert Oselen Jr.) is a man who "hates the moon and walks with a limp," due to a childhood encounter with the KKK.

A variety of miseries have taken tolls on the characters, and contribute to a collective sense of bitterness that drives the story to a grim finale. Bandele wants viewers to experience every pain and shock for themselves. His language is graphic, occasionally to the point of excess. A heart doesn't merely break in this bleak story. It bursts "wide open, right there inside of her chest; blood seep(ing) through her skin like it was nothing but cheesecloth."

Through all the intense imagery, however, Bandele wants the audience to sympathize with his characters trapped by circumstances. With the exception of a few times when the script and direction lose focus, we are generally right there with them.

"Judas Hands"

The play continues at 7:30 p.m. today and Saturday, and 3 p.m. Sunday at Hattiloo Theatre, 656 Marshall. Tickets are $18-$25. Call (901) 525-0009.

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