Biblical accounts on Pontius Pilate as a leader during the Roman Empire who was reluctant in punishing Jesus Christ of crucifixion are also the historical records that speak of his character as a governor of the province of Judea.
This premise is the core of “Pilato,” a musical in Filipino currently showing at the PETA Theater Center.
The missing links in the world and in the salvation history about Pilate are all filled up with literary devices here that constitute a logical and consistent delineation of his persona by actor Jerome Ferguson and the ensemble.
The presence of the scribbler Josepo (Josephus in English), essayed by Only Torres, the Brechtian character who captures and strings together all his impressions and information gathered from people around Pilate is one big literary deus ex machina to resolve problems in the end.
Ferguson’s internalization of the popular yet controversial figure makes for an ambivalent cross-section of the role he plays very coherent with the relativity of truth both from the eyes of the actor and the audience about the punisher except for the famous literal yet symbolic act of “washing of hands” attributed to him.
When one talks about Pilate, what easily comes to mind is his escaping the consequences of his actions or his dilly-dallying tactic of indecision much more of his passing the buck attitude.
Apart from this, Pilate’s subjectivity is louder than his objective of modernizing Judea through the establishing of an aqueduct, for one, for his reappointment to the throne until fading into oblivion.
That subjectivity emanates from the many interpretations of his views and styles in leadership, both perceived in biblical and historical facts.
It is easy to say that the blurb, if not an above-the-title or subtext of The Corner Studio’s stage play, “Ano ang Katotohanan (What is the Truth)” tells us the real essence of this theater exercise.
From the director himself, Eldrin Veloso comes this confession: “Information comes to us in countless forms and modes.
But how do we sift through the chaos to uncover the truth? Would we even recognize the truth if we meet it face-to-face?
“Essentially, that is what the play hopes to put out there—a journey that dares to unravel the mystery of truth’s many faces. With our society on the brink of a post-truth era, I believe this is a story that demands to be told now, more than ever.”
The musical echoes the contemporary truth-telling in the world today in the advent of overload misinformation and disinformation being peddled by both the virtual and the real creators of anarchy and chaos in the quotidian.
“Pilato” succeeds in bringing many faces of truth about power struggle among leaders in ancient Rome very reflective of the contemporary time that massive false truths are churned out to perpetuate one’s dominance in and outside politics.
One thing is for sure, though, Pilate by washing his hands before his subordinates if not vassals and Ferguson’s mimicking him, validates one single, absolute truth—he was the judge of Jesus Christ whom he didn’t discern any misdemeanor, only his being lapdog to his boss—the Emperor Tiberius and perennial rival king Herod.
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