The Theater: New Play in Manhattan, Oct. 20, 1947

Dear Judas (by Robinson Jeffers; produced by Michael Myerberg) offended the pious—when tried out last summer—by laying irreverent hands on a Bible story. It could hardly, however, be as sacrilegious as it is soporific. What Robinson Jeffers wrote in Dear Judas was simply a dramatic poem; putting it on the stage does nothing whatever to turn it into a play.

As interpretation, Dear Judas is provocative enough. It portrays a Judas who loves Jesus but finds Him grown too fond of power. This Judas betrays Jesus—in the belief that He will only be jailed for a day or two—to avert His later being seized as a revolutionist and killed. This new motive in a Biblical character brings no new drama to the story; indeed, the story has almost no drama, new or old. Read as a poem, Dear Judas has some effective if showy verse; recited as a play, it is almost as hard to follow as to enjoy.