Passion Play’s Jesus ready to get physical
Canadian Badlands production boasts a supporting cast of more than 200 performers, writes
When Giovanni Mocibob got the offer from Vance Neudorf, the executive director of the Canadian Badlands Passion Play, to play Jesus in the 24th edition of this world renowned outdoor spectacle, Mocibob immediately phoned his friend Aaron Krogman.
Krogman had played Jesus in the Badlands Passion Play from 2013 through 2015.
“I had seen versions of the Passion Play, but never the Canadian Badlands version, but I knew Aaron had done the show and he’s an actor and friend I respect,” says Mocibob.
“Aaron told me that I would carry the experience of playing Jesus with me for a very long time. He assured me it would be a remarkable experience.
“That was the kind of recommendation I needed,” says Moci- bob who is the 14th actor to play Jesus for the Canadian Badlands event.
Mocibob insists he “didn’t feel any kind of pressure to be a perfect representation of Jesus because that would be impossible.
“I have to do my best, which is how I approach every role I do.
“All I can bring to my performance is my personal spiritual understanding of who Jesus is and that comes from my intellectual understanding of the gospels and the nature of who Jesus is as revealed through the gospels.”
This year’s edition of the Badlands Passion Play, which marks the 150th performance of the show, is based on the Gospel of the apostle Luke.
“The Jesus in Luke’s Gospel is very much a come-follow-me kind of guy.
“Luke stresses the loving nature of Jesus.”
Mocibob says one of the most challenging things about portraying Jesus was “wrapping my head around the paradox that Jesus is fully God but he is also fully human. When you are portraying him you can’t get caught up with either world he exists in because he exists in both.”
The Badlands amphitheatre is one of the largest outdoor theatres in the world and this year’s play boasts a supporting cast of more than 200 men, women and children.
“The size of the theatre and of the size of the company means this is more physically demanding than a lot of theatre I’ve done in the past.
“Fortunately I’m in decent shape.”
He says his preparation before each performance is “to drink as much water as I can and then put one foot in front of the other and, before I know it, the play is done.”
One thing Mocibob learned very quickly in rehearsals for the Badlands Passion Play was how daunting being on stage with a huge company can be.
“In traditional theatre, standing still can give you strength but not with 200 people somewhere beside or behind you,” he says.
“You simply blend in and if any number of them move they’ll draw focus away from you. I had to learn that even taking a few steps forward will draw focus back to me when it is needed. This is a new physical language I had to learn to make the story as clear as possible.”