Pilate: The Lost Gospel
by Michael Punter.
Performed by Maxwell Caulfield.
Friday 24th April 2025
We are delighted to welcome back Maxwell Caulfield to the Barn this season for a UK premiere of 'Pilate: The Lost Gospel'.
As many of you will recall, last April we had the pleasure of welcoming esteemed Hollywood actors Maxwell Caulfield and his wife, Juliet Mills, to the Barn, where Maxwell presented a rehearsed reading of 'The Lost Gospel of Pontius Pilate' by playwright and friend of The Barn, Michael Punter.
Since then, Maxwell has continued to develop the piece back in the States with several performances under his belt, and will be taking it to this year’s Edinburgh Festival under the revised title: 'Pilate: The Lost Gospel'. We are thrilled that, having felt so warmly received last year, Maxwell has asked to perform the play, in full at the Barn before heading to Edinburgh, for one night only on Friday 24th April. Tickets are expected to sell quickly, so we encourage early booking for what promises to be a very special event.
It’s the year 36AD and Pontius Pilate, former Roman governor of Judea, has been recalled to Rome to account for his political excesses. But the story Pilate has to tell is not the one Rome expects.
'Pontius Pilate is an ongoing mystery, a kind of quantum person. In the Gospels he's a troubled rationalist trying to make an impossible decision. But in the Jewish sources, he's a bigot and intolerant monster: the author of a genocide. The Ethiopian Church later made him a saint. So will the real Pontius Pilate please stand up? Here, I've used him as a symbol for historical PTSD in order to interrogate the question: Why must we keep passing on our pain?"'
Michael Punter, Playwright
Though based in the US Maxwell has toured the UK extensively in productions of Bedroom Farce, Singin’ in the Rain, The Lady Vanishes and Guys ’n’ Dolls as well appearing in the West End production of Chicago.
On British television he joined the casts of both Casualty and Emmerdale. He has played New York stages both on and off Broadway beginning with Entertaining Mr. Sloane, Salonika, An Inspector Calls, My Night with Reg and Hangmen. Cult films Grease 2 and Empire Records are part of an extensive film career, and his television credits range from The Colbys up to recent appearances on Pam & Tommy for Hulu and Landman on Paramount+.
His association with playwright Michael Punter was initiated by a brief but memorable tour with his wife of great longstanding Juliet Mills in Darker Shores.
Michael Punter's plays include The Wolves (Paines Plough and national tour), Darker Shores (Hampstead Theatre), Bunker Girls (Waterloo East Theatre), The Ghost Light (ET Barn). Skerryvore: A Tale of Terror (London Horror Festival), The Incident at Marshfell (Vital Theatre/Stables Theatre) and Dear God (Rarig Centre Minneapolis). Michael is looking forward to working with Maxwell again after the successful revival of Darker Shores for Birdsong Productions in 2022.
