History Theatre / JB

[[caption-width-right:350:Creator/RaymondMassey and Creator/ChristopherPlummer as Zuss and Nickles from the original Broadway production.]]

Two circus vendors, Mr. Zuss and Nickles, are left in an empty tent after a show. They find a couple of drama masks, and decide to put on a show -- namely, the story of Job.

Actors then appear out of nowhere. J.B., sometimes also called Job, is a wealthy banker, married to Sarah. They are parents to five children. Nickles, who is playing the part of Satan, challenges Zuss, playing the part of God. Nickles claims that J.B. only worships God because he imagines God to be the source of his earthly prosperity and happiness. Zuss, as God, proceeds to put J.B. to the test by utterly destroying his life, killing all his children and leaving him homeless.

[[caption-width-right:350:Raymond Massey and Creator/ChristopherPlummer as Zuss and Nickles from the original Broadway production.]]

''J.B.'' is a 1958 play in verse by Archibald [=MacLeish=].

It is an Americanized, metatheatrical retelling of the Literature/BookOfJob. Two circus vendors, Mr. Zuss and Nickles, are left in an empty tent after a show. They find a couple of drama masks, and decide to put on a show, namely, the story of Job.

--> "God is God or we are nothing--/Mayflies that leave their husks behind--"

The original 1958 Broadway production (which used a somewhat altered script) was directed by Creator/EliaKazan and featured Creator/ChristopherPlummer as Nickles, Raymond Massey as Zuss, and Pat Hingle as J.B.

* {{God}}: Not Mr. Zuss, who even when he's wearing the mask and performing the role of God in the story is still identified in the script as "Godmask" (with Nickles as "Satanmask"). No, there's a voice from Heaven identified only as a "Distant Voice" or "Prompter" (the DramatisPersonae uses the latter) who is heard from time to time pushing the story along. That voice always is quoting from the Book of Job.

* {{God}}: Not Mr. Zuss, who even when he's wearing the mask and performing the role of God in the story is still identified in the script as "Godmask" (with Nickles as "Satanmask"). No, there's a voice from Heaven identified as a "Distant Voice" who is heard from time to time pushing the story along. That voice always is quoting from the Book of Job.

--->''''Nickles''' ''(leaning forward toward J.B., a wheedling whisper)'': Now's the time to say it, mister.\\

The original 1958 Broadway production was directed by Creator/EliaKazan and featured Creator/ChristopherPlummer as Nickles, Raymond Massey as Zuss, and Pat Hingle as J.B.

It is an Americanized retelling of the Literature/BookOfJob. Two circus vendors, Mr. Zuss and Nickles, are left in an empty tent after a show. They find a couple of drama masks, and decide to put on a show, namely, the story of Job.

And the wind on the water.'""''

It is a retelling of the Literature/BookOfJob. Two circus vendors, Mr. Zuss and Nickles, are left in an empty tent after a show. They find a couple of drama masks, and decide to put on a show, namely, the story of Job.

''J.B.'' is a 1958 play by Archibald [=MacLeish=].

The original 1958 Broadway production was directed by Creator/EliaKazan and featured Creator/ChristopherPlummer as Nickles.

* ThoseTwoGuys: The two Messengers, who keep appearing to deliver the latest news of disaster to poor J.B. and Sarah. Sometimes they're dressed as soldiers, sometimes as reporters, sometimes as construction workers, but every time they show up they tell of something very bad.

* AsTheGoodBookSays: Zuss and Nickles speak in modern English vernacular (although in a very stilted way), but when they put on the masks they start quoting directly from the book of Job, King James Version, with God saying "Whence comest thou?" and Satan answering "From going to and fro in the earth."

* SignificantName: "Zuss" is evocative of Zeus and "Nickles" is an allusion to "Old Nick", a traditional nickname for the Devil.