Customer Reviews

J.B.: A Play in Verse

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(5)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

MacLeish's pulitzer prize winning verse play sets the Old Testament book of Job in a semi-satirical modern setting (a circus tent), where JB (Job) undergoes his trials under the watchful eyes of the circus vendors Zuss and Nickles, who mimic the roles of God and Satan, respectively. JB's plight is essentially a play within a play, as the focus of the work tends to be the interactions between Zuss and Nickles. MacLeish raises the eternal questions through these powerful scenes, most notably with the recurring jingle of Nickles: "If God is God he is not good; if God is good He is not God..." Readers of this play are forced to address the questions themselves while they are entertained and challenged by the proposals of the characters and the Biblical parallels they represent.

This play in verse is a modern take on one of the timeless questions of suffering during our lives.In this instance,JB loses his wealth, health and family and during the ensuing discussions with his "friends", it beomes evident that the story is not about suffering, but about faith.Very powerful,but short, descriptive scenes and dialogue.

MacLeish's pulitzer prize winning verse play sets the Old Testament book of Job in a semi-satirical modern setting (a circus tent), where JB (Job) undergoes his trials under the watchful eyes of the circus vendors Zuss and Nickles, who mimic the roles of God and Satan, respectively. JB's plight is essentially a play within a play, as the focus of the work tends to be the interactions between Zuss and Nickles. MacLeish raises the eternal questions through these powerful scenes, most notably with the recurring jingle of Nickles: "If God is God he is not good; if God is good He is not God..." Readers of this play are forced to address the questions themselves while they are entertained and challenged by the proposals of the characters and the Biblical parallels they represent.

J.B. is a modern day (1950s) retelling of the biblical story of Job. To summarize: Job, God's most loyal servant, is punished by God without reason. God only wishes to prove that no matter what obstacles God threw at him, Job would still "praise God." While the story of Job makes a deep point about human suffering and the strength of faith, J.B. delves deeper.

The play centers on a dialogue between two characters, Zuss and Nickles, who play God and Satan respectively. Each makes important points about the root of suffering and God's role in Job's pain. Zuss argues, in more words or less, that Job has no right to question God. Nickles, instead, sympathizes with Job's pain believing that God has been unfair to mankind and especially to this man. Please grant that these are simplifications of their arguments, one can write novels on the meaning of this play.
Its not hard to imagine how the play ends, but like many things it's the journey not the destination that matter. The banter between the two, and satirical overtones of throwing the whole setting in a circus tent, take the reader beyond the norm. This is a story that requires the reader to engage, be prepared to think! You can not help but question your spirituality and faith during the play. For while few of us suffer as Job does, fewer still believe in God. Would you be able to still love God, if he took everything away from you?

I'll be straightforward and admit that my review is biased. MacLeish's J.B. has been (since reading it in my High School AP English Class) my favorite. I'm an avid reader, but there's something so subtly beautiful about MacLeish's language, something so deep in his words that have resounded in my heart, that I am compelled to re-read this play over and over again. MacLeish has a profound message to teach us "modern, disillusioned men" that one would have to have a heart of stone not to appreciate.

I was familiar with J.B. when it first came out in the late 50's or early 60's. The story of the Book of Job was updated to a time when nuclear war was a possibility, and that was the backdrop for J.B.'s (Job's) losses. With the terrorist threat now prevalent in the world, the play is now more timely than ever.

"Someone is always playing Job." J.B. is a modern day perspective concerning the relationship of human quandary and supreme forces pupputeering man. The character J.B. significantly parallels the virtuous hero of Job from Bibical context. MacLeish puts the Christian story into an identifiable setting and embellishes the role of God and Satan. The author seems to almost be questioning God's motivation for allowing such suffering and excusing such pain. The two texts are best understood when one has read and analyzed both. J.B. may seem a bit more realistic and challenging. I would recommend this dramatic honorary piece of literature. It teaches a universal lesson which all of humanity may benefit from: When tribulation arises, do not ask "why" but turn to "Who." Who is the only capable of relieving the trials of this mundane existance. Who has created all and can deliver peace when all hope has vanished. Who is the answer to "why".

JB is a 20th century version of JOB, the most referred to book in the Bible. This modern masterpiece has all the drama and poignancy of its Old Testament counterpart and it has somewhat a better ending and answers to the question about why bad things happen to the good. JB's blinding trust in a God who rewards the good and punished the sinful remains despite all that happens to him or his family.
The devil has more compassion for him than God and his wife even more. She first leaves him for his maniacal faith only to return with her answer to the answerable--love.
The play raises the most troublesome question of faith and like the book Job has no answers except (1) the ways of God are mysterious (an answer unworthy of the question and those whose circumstances most need to know) and (2) your answer is the afterlife's rewarding heaven or fire-consuming hell.
There is no answer as God is silent and exists in the regions of one's faith and choice that stems from the free choice God gave us as a consequence of sin. Could He just have decided at the Garden to kick us out with a "good riddance?"
If you want to explore this question from a different viewpoint, read the ever wise Rabbi Kushner's When Bad Things Happen to Good People.

Time has a way of putting art in perspective. Plays written more than a thousand years ago continue to be performed today, transcending time and culture to speak to us in a universal sense. So how does Archibald MacLeish's J.B. rank in the line between the likes of MEDEA and AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY? The answer is, sad to say, not very well.

Very loosely based on the Book of Job, given a surrealistic spin, and transported to the 20th Century, J.B. was widely praised when it debuted in 1958. Set in a circus tent, the play finds two worn-out actors assuming--somewhat against their will--the roles of God and Satan and forcing J.B., a pious businessman, to play out the story of pain, loss, and regret. His children are killed. His wealth is destroyed. J.B. is stricken with hideous boils. Sarah, his wife, urges J.B. to curse God and die; when he does not, she leaves him. As the story plays out, the two actors playing God and Satan are sometimes prompted by an unseen voice which may be God or the devil, and the story takes a final spin, not coming to quite the same conclusion as the one we expect from the Bible.

It sounds interesting, and J.B. was widely praised and received a Pulitzer Prize in its day. But today, the play seems a little contrived, a little flat, and less imaginative than you would wish. Worth reading, and it certainly might come to life in a first class production, but ultimately this is one script that I wouldn't go out of my way for.

GFT, Amazon Reviewer

The story of Job like you never heard it. Loved it when I first read it in the 70's.
Better now!

Macleish's modern rendition of the Book of Job does an adequate job of converting the serious tale to a modern almost circus like story. Although sardonic at times, he keeps the main focus intact: WHY DO THE RIGHTEOUS SUFFER?