Job satisfaction: hip hop brings the Bible new beats

J.Hoover is set to fire his favourite employee, Job Lowe, based on the scheming advice of Lou Saphire. A quicker read of these names and you have the key players to an ancient story of faith-testing. The company C.E.O. as Jehovah and the advice-giving Lucifer testing out the every day man.

The story of Job came quickly as inspiration to Jerome Saibil and Eli Batalion, the creators of Job: The Hip Hop Musical. They took just three days to write out the script and another three to perfect the lyrics last summer. But when writing, it had been a long time since the two studied Job, in Hebrew, in their Jewish high school. They discussed the plot in class at the time, but it was their own debates, in deciphering how to deliver the story, that led to the play.

"The setting of the play is at a hip hop record label distributing hip hop artists like MC Cain and MC Abel," explains Saibil. The two MCs are hired by Hoover to produce a musical that tells the tale of Job Lowe. While the two MCs rhyme out the tale, they also hold the very same debate that Saibil and Batalion threw back and forth.

"Every character is either played by MC Cain or MC Abel or both, they are arguing over the best way to tell the story," says Saibil.

"Sometimes they play Hoover at the same time, but Cain's version of Hoover is slightly different than Abel's, who is the more faithful of the two."

The two performers have just finished touring the eastern section of Canada's fringe with Job II: The Demon of Eternal Recurrence. They will switch back to last year's biblical start for Victoria's show. The two are now waiting to hear if they will be combining the two performances in an off-Broadway musical in New York after this fringe tour. Job and Job II have both received rave reviews since their opening nights. A new "suped up" version, double Job bill, is also set for Toronto. Who knew an age-old story of love of God could take a couple of musicians to centre stage internationally? Certainly not the creators.

"We thought the show was going to bomb. We were convinced people who are into hip hop would not be into the show because of the Bible. People into the Bible wouldn't be into the show because of hip hop and people into theatre wouldn't be into it, because of both," says Saibil. "We perform tag team like hip hop. The play is a fusion of hip hop and verse drama."

But aside from a select few who had trouble making the leap from Job the shepherd to Job the music executive, across the secular and religious board, people were enthralled.

"A couple people pulled out some of the contentious interpretive spins we've put on the story, but not the religious scholars.

Most priests and rabbis and university professors really like what we've done. That doesn't surprise me because we are taking their work and passion and bringing it back for people to focus on it for one hour and start thinking about it." Both Saibil and Batalion are classically trained pianists, something apparent in the "10 fresh beats" backing the MCs. "Every line in the play has a prescribed rhythm to it." says Saibil. "And just like the play is a fusion of styles the music is a fusion between classical music and hip hop. There are shout outs to Beethoven, Mozart and Bizet."

Neither actor studied theatre while attending Brown University and despite their immediate success in theatrics, both Batalion and Saibil have a wide range of future plans. They started working together when they were 13, making videos for school assignments. Their future interests include music projects, filmmaking dreams and TV. "The reason we are doing theatre now is because we are enjoying it. We'll be doing it for at least another couple of years."

And although the two did study a fair amount of the Bible in their years of high school, it was not a major part of curriculum. It wasn't the source of inspiration for their very first play, or a likely feature in the future.

"Our first play was done in 1999 about a screw ball, middle-aged, neurotic man who decides to get a vasectomy," says Saibil.

"The next one we are working on also has completely different ideas."

Job: The Hip Hop Musical plays six times at St. Andrews School, starting Aug. 27. For a complete schedule at Fringe events and ticket information visit www.victoriafringe.com or call 380-9870.

— Ingrid Paulsen