“And Judas Had a Brother”
53 A.D, Roman Empire
LYSIAS is the butt of jokes, a man willing to sink to the lowest depths. He is also believed to be an informer for the hated Romans and the brother of the traitor, Judas Iscariot who had betrayed Jesus twenty years previous.
JESS is a cook at an orphanage. Roman soldiers come around looking for the children of the rebel, Simon Avaran. JUDITH, who runs the orphanage, reluctantly rounds up all of the children. LYSIAS enters and persuades the guards to leave.
LYSIAS is cynical about the trust Judas put in Jesus and warns JESS to believe the worst and not to trust anybody.
BECKY unintentionally tells JESS that SARAH is her sister. He realises they are the children of Simon that the Romans have been looking for. JESS assures the girls that he will not tell anybody. SARAH is scared that LYSIAS will find out and turn them in for the sake of a reward.
JESS is called on by JUDITH, SARAH and BECKY to attend to an injured boy who is about his own age. He finds out that it is MATTHIAS, the brother of SARAH and BECKY. JESS and JUDITH agree to hide MATTHIAS from the Romans.
Meanwhile the reward for the children gets larger. MATTHIAS is scared that he will bring the others into danger and tells JUDITH that he must try to leave the city.
One day at the market, LYSIAS overhears BECKY referring to SARAH as her sister. JESS and the sisters are very aware of BECKY’s mistake. LYSIAS realises that these children are the ones with the bounty on their heads.
JESS pleads with LYSIAS not to betray them. He warns JESS to take the children away to safety.
JESS tells SARAH, BECKY and JUDITH to pack. They are about to escape the orphanage when LYSIAS arrives with a Roman guard. They are put in a prison cell with the captured MATTHIAS. It looks as though LYSIAS has betrayed the children.
The prisoners sleep but are woken by LYSIAS who tells them to make their way to a waiting cart outside. They are transported out of the city. LYSIAS had saved up all of his money in order to bribe the guards to help with the escape.
JESS guesses that LYSIAS is in fact Judas Iscarriot who has now partly redeemed himself through his actions.
JESS, MATTHIAS and BECKY say their goodbyes and JUDITH and LYSIAS(Judas) return to the city.
