Judas at the ETA Hoffmann Theater: A Defense Speech Against Hasty Judgment
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Judas Steps Out of the Shadow of Accusation
A name, a verdict, a betrayal: In the studio of the ETA Hoffmann Theater Bamberg, Judas Iscariot receives his own voice. Walter Jens shifts the perspective in his pointed defense speech and lets the most famous traitor of Christian Western culture speak for himself. On November 19, 2026, this will become a concentrated stage experience about guilt, responsibility, and the power of traditional narratives.
A Defense Against Hasty Judgment
The dramaturgy begins where the verdict usually ends. Judas contradicts the accusation, defends his decisions with theological sharpness, and puts the familiar story of betrayal to the test. Without him, the intellectual sharpening of the text suggests, the Christian martyr myth could not be told in the same way.
The monologue develops into an imaginary tribunal. Judas struggles, doubts, and denounces the millennia-old Christian anti-Semitism. At the same time, his own argumentation forces him to reconsider his role in the divine plan. From the well-known biblical story emerges a dissecting literary theater about moral certainties, historical interpretation, and human responsibility.
Acting Art in a Concentrated Studio Atmosphere
Director Tim Adam and actor Marek Egert collaborate again after their joint production The World on Your Back. Egert carries the evening as the central stage figure and lets Judas oscillate between defiance and remorse, accusation and vulnerability, intellectual clarity and existential despair.
The intimacy of the studio focuses attention on voice, body, and linguistic precision. The stage and costumes by Anais Buzduga condense the space, while Lea Mantel’s dramaturgy structures the monologue as a cognitive testing arrangement. Acoustics, lighting mood, and immediate audience proximity transform the theater atmosphere into a resonance space where every doubt reverberates.
Bible Reading on High Voltage
Judas does not retell a Bible story but reads it against the grain. The staging combines religious motif history with social reflection and focuses on the mechanisms of scapegoating. Quickly labeling individuals or groups of people appears here as a dangerous way of thinking.
Walter Jens combines linguistic precision with philosophical sharpening. Tim Adam's direction lends immediacy and tangibility to the text, while Marek Egert's acting makes the contradictory figure physically and emotionally tangible. The stage experience challenges the audience not with ready-made answers but with questions that extend far beyond the theater evening.
Conclusion: Theater as Open Deliberation
Visitors can expect a dense, challenging theater evening in the studio of the ETA Hoffmann Theater. Judas unites literary theater, religious reflection, and compelling acting art into a defense speech against hasty judgment. Anyone who wants to experience stage art as immediate encounter and a place of thought should discover this performance live in Bamberg.
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