On Easter Sunday ikon offered a gathering in the Black Box entitled ‘Judas’. Here I offer a small virtual tour of the evening.

Warning: the following audio clips contain strong language

The room was sparse, with little more than a long table running from one end to the other. At the centre of the table stood a large wooden chair draped with fine purple cloth and covered with wild ivy, ivy that weaved its way around the chair and spread out onto the table. The table itself was laden with fresh bread, olive oil and balsamic vinegar. Black candles slowly burned down the tables narrow centre. Ambient music filled the room and a large image of two lovers embracing was projected onto one of the walls. The video clip was originally less than a minute long but had been slowed down so that it lasted for the duration of the gathering. The mesmerising visual looked almost like a still image, but as the night progressed the lover’s lips gradually met.

To the left of the large wooden chair stood another empty chair. On the table, in front of this second chair, lay a large old bible, two bowls and two small white towels. One of the bowls was filled with a dark red wine while the other held crystal clear water. The old bible was closed.

After people had bought their drinks from the bar they took their seats around the table and began to eat the bread. At each setting there was a slip of paper and a pen. On the paper it simply read, ‘What would you do for four months wages?’ People were asked to write an answer while they waited for the evening to formally begin.

After a few minutes these pieces of paper were gathered up. Then a young man, who was sitting in a dark corner of the room, brought everyone to silence by singing ‘Until the End of the World’ by U2 (a song describing a conversation between Judas and Jesus). When he had finished a young woman stood up and approached the empty seat to the left of the large chair in the centre. She carefully washed her hands in the red wine before opening the old bible in front of her and reading from it. Saying,

(Written and spoken by Kellie Turtle, music by Rothko)

After this she again washed her hands in wine and then left. The music continued to fill the room, mixing elegantly with the words and with the silence. After a few moments another woman stood and began to read out the answers that people had given to the question, ‘What would you do for four months wages’. Some of the answers are included here.

People were then given a second question, entitled, ‘What have you been blamed for that wasn’t your fault?’ We were all were asked to write an answer to this question. These were then collected up before a man, who had moments before been sitting near the end of table, stood up and went to the chair that had just been vacated. He washed his hands in water before reading from the book in front of him, saying,

(Written and spoken by Jon Hatch, music by Rothko)

After this he washed his hands once more in the water and left. Again the answers to people’s questions were read out,

At this point a third question was handed out, which asked, ‘What is the most screwed up thing you have done in the name of God?’ People were given a few minutes to write something and get another drink before these answers were collected. Then a woman stood up and approached the empty seat where the other reflections had been offered. She slowly washed her hands in the wine before reading from the book in front of her,

(Written and spoken by Cary Gibson, music by Rothko)

After this she again washed her hands in wine and left. The answers to the previous question were then read out,

People were then given a final question and told that these would not be read. The question was, ‘What have you done for love that has brought you pain?’ After a few minutes these were gathered up before a man sat at the same empty chair as the others. He pulled up his sleeves and washed his hands in the bowl of water before reading from the book in front of him, saying,

(Written and spoken by Peter Rollins, music by Rothko)

Again he washed his hands in the water and left. Then the two bowls were lifted from the table and placed at either side of the room. The final answers were ceremonially placed into the bible, and it was slammed shut.

A short liturgy, referencing the four different readings of Judas, was repeated by everyone in the room three times:

‘I have betrayed, I have been betrayed, I have been misguided, I have been faithful’

Lots were then passed around and, depending on the lot that was drawn, people were invited to wash their hands in either the wine or the water. For those who washed in the wine, the words ‘Christ’s blood stains your hands’ were spoken over them. For those who washed in the water the words, ‘you have been cleansed’ were offered.

In closing there was a song followed by a reflection (written by Shirley Milburne). As with all ikon gatherings, a gift was given out as a reminder of the evening… a small badge with the words – Judas says happy Easter. The badge referenced the original Judas gathering (from four years ago). At that gathering we had given out badges simply saying ‘Judas’. However, at the darkest part of the evening the barman had sarcastically shouted out ‘Happy Easter’. So we combined these two happenings in the gift.

Hope you enjoyed this small tour of our ikon gathering. If you are interested in workshops designed to help your orginisation develop its own unique forms of theodrama then please contact Laci Scott.

Tags: betrayed, betrayer, Easter, ikon, judas, theodrama, transformance art

This entry was posted on Monday, April 13th, 2009 at 9:50 am and is filed under Reflection. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.