“When God is silent, whose voice remains?”
This thought-provoking question is what propels the new musical, JOB: Fateful Fever Dream, which opens tonight to a sell-out crowd at Black Lotus Studios in Kennedy Town.
It is the second full-length production of the Filipino-led theater group, The Bootstrap Theatre, whose debut play, FAKE, received wide acclaim in Hong Kong when it was staged in June last year.i
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Its makers describe JOB “as a chamber rock musical about war, loss and unbearable silence”.
At the story’s center is Job, a man who leads his community out of bloody and violent conflict, but in the process loses everything that once defined him: family, health, and his life’s purpose.
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| Scene from the final rehearsal before opening night |
But while it is based on the Book of Job in the Old Testament, it is not about religion, says its playwright, composer and director William Elvin Manzano.
“It’s about people who live in a time of chaos, violence, danger, and despair -- but still have to enter on cue and sing in tune. And that is all of us.”
Playing the lead role of Job is Felix Rivera, while the two other key roles of Dinah and Hassatan are played alternatively by Mikah Franco and Michelle Lam; and Mary Jane Alejo and Franz Arcilla, respectively.
It is directed by Amuer Calderon, with Erickson Dizon as choreographer.
JOB will be shown on all weekends of July (Fridays through Sundays) at Black Lotus Studios on the 8th floor of Cheung Hing Industrial Building, 12P Smithfield Road, Kennedy Town. Limited tickets are available at https://www.art-mate.net/
