FRIDAY-SEPT. 3

>> ‘Judas Iscariot’ to make isle debut

Where would Christianity be if Judas Iscariot had not betrayed Jesus? If it was God’s will that Jesus be crucified and then rise from the dead to bring mankind salvation, then wasn’t Judas doing God’s will?

Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber presented a nontraditional view of Judas in “Jesus Christ Superstar” in 1970. Playwright Stephen Adley Guirgis presented another in 2005 with “The Last Days of Judas Iscariot.”

University of Hawaii-Manoa professor Mark Branner, who directs the Hawaii debut of “The Last Days of Judas Iscariot,” said the play “hits a lot of buttons, both for those in the church and for those outside the church.”

“You can’t get much higher stakes than ‘eternal life’ or ‘eternal damnation,’ and this piece allows us to really explore life and death — even eternally,” Branner said. “This allows for great moments of theatre — Satan drinking beer with Judas after the betrayal of Jesus, Jesus meeting with Judas in purgatory, lawyers justifying their own salvation or damnation through their defense or prosecution of Judas.”

Guirgis “is really an amazing craftsman,” Branner said, “giving us great lines, monologues and scenes that catch your breath with their daring — at once sassy and then heart-rending.”

Donovan Oakleaf stars in the title role, with Moses Goods as Pilate, Peter Clark as Sigmund Freud and Eden Lee Murray as Mother Teresa. New York-based stage veteran Stephan Wolfert is Satan.

— John Berger, Star-Advertiser

SATURDAY

>> Comedian brings fresh batch of insults

Australian comedian Jim Jefferies returns to Honolulu this weekend, so hang on to your hats.

The Australian’s brand of insulting humor proved so incendiary that he once got attacked on stage. It’s also earned him several comedy specials and worldwide tours, all delivered with an in-your-face attitude and a booming baritone trained in opera.

His latest accomplishment is his eponymous Comedy Central show, which is broadcast Tuesdays. Jefferies has made it an equal opportunity insult machine, taking Democrats to task, basically for being boring, and President Donald Trump for fecklessly banning LGBT people from the military.

His show launched earlier this summer and recently earned a 10-episode extension.

“I look forward to a few more months with Comedy Central before it starts crying outside of a bar at 2 a.m.,” he said at the time.

Jefferies has managed to do all that plus stay on track with his Unusual Punishment Tour, which started in May and continues until December. He should be warmed up for his appearance here. He just appeared on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” where, among other bits, he poked fun at Australian icon Paul Hogan, explained how he got in trouble for facetiously suggesting that North Korea bomb Reno, and told a lascivious story about his early career that left a startled Colbert seguing to commercial.

SATURDAY-AUG. 27

>> Enjoy nine days of events during Duke’s OceanFest

The popular Duke’s OceanFest starts up this weekend, kicking off nine days of ocean sporting events and other festivities in honor of Duke Paoa Kahanamoku, the waterman who is Hawaii’s most celebrated sports figure.

OceanFest includes more than two dozen sports contests, including swimming, surfing, beach volleyball, canoeing and surfboard water polo. Most events start at 8 a.m. and continue throughout the day; surf contests will be at held at Queen’s Surf.

On Saturday, check out the Na Koa Wounded Warrior Canoe Regatta at Fort DeRussy Beach and the Lei Draping of the Duke statue, 4:30 p.m. Saturday at Kuhio Beach; Adaptive Surf (handicapped), amateur and pro longboard, and stand-up paddling contests from Monday through Wednesday; tandem surf on Wednesday and Thursday; and a sunrise Lei Draping of the Duke statue on Thursday to celebrate Kahanamoku’s birthday.

Even surf-loving dogs will get in on the action, with Guinness record holder Abbie and local surf hound Luna scheduled to participate in a SurFur Contest on Thursday, beginning at 11 a.m.

WEDNESDAY

>> Gnash will treat the isles to his R&B/hip-hop style

You might think a performer who calls himself Gnash might be an angry sort who’s always gnashing his teeth over some trivial matter.

That’s not the case with Gnash, the R&B/hip-hop artist and music producer with a romantic sensibility, who comes to The Republik on Wednesday. He got big airplay with his 2016 single “i hate u, i love u,” a dreamy tune about the melancholy feelings that both parties feel after a breakup. Featuring Olivia O’Brien, the tune reached No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, hit No. 1 in Australia, charted in eight other countries and was nominated for Best Breakup Song in the 2017 Radio Disney Music Awards.

The Southern Californian told Billboard.com that he started out in music DJ’ing at parties and school dances, finding inspiration in the work of Death Cab for Cutie, Kanye and Hawaii’s Jack Johnson, among other artists, and got into making music on his own after getting a positive reaction to his remixes of “Suga Suga,” by Baby Bash and Frankie J., and “Coco,” by O.T. Genasis.

The name, by the way, is merely a consolidation of his full name — Garrett Nash — rather than an expression of attitude.