Israeli Drama in Focus

One of the things that strikes most of us from around the world attending IsraDrama 2007 in Tel Aviv is that Israel's theatre community addresses head-on the tragic occurrences and implications of the national stalemate with the Palestinians. Nowhere is it more evident than in yesterday's "In Spitting Distance" by Tajer Najib.

"In Spitting Distance" is a monodrama (another term for one-person show) written by an Israeli Arab who is primarily known here as an outstanding actor. Though he wrote this over a 4 year period with himself in mind as the performer, it is being brought to live by another very talented Israeli Arab actor.

The protagonist is a Palestinian actor and the setting is first Ramallah, a few miles north of Jerusalem, in the West Bank territory. The play opens with a description of how, when and why Ramallah men constantly spit, and this becomes a powerful metaphor in the drama's exploration of the untenable position faced by this man.

He takes a vacation from it all in Paris, where he is totally free, and when it is time to return, refreshed, he is stopped at the airport by French authorities over the fact that his name appears differently on his Israeli passport and his airline ticket (explained as being due to his having a birth name and an official registered name), so he returns to town, gets his ticket reissued to match his passport so he can fly the following day, finds romance with a Parisian woman and is tempted to remain. He also realizes to his horror that his new travel day (in 2002) is September 11th, and that a Palestinian attempting to fly to Israel is the brightest red flag any security authorities could possibly be looking for and that this misfortunate coincidence is just another in a long string of ironies in his life.

Artfully directed and performed, it's a stunning piece of theatre; tour bookings around the world are piling up, but it has had only a few performances in Israel.

Why is that? The director, an Israeli woman, and the author agreed they feared it might be exploited for political purposes as an example of Arab-Israeli friendship and cooperation. (It also appears that at least one major institutional theatre passed on producing it even though they offered a reading of it.) That fidelity of purpose has limited its ability to find venues.

Written in Hebrew by this Arab writer, it certainly was intended for an Israeli audience; but recently, Najib created an Arabic version and performed it in northern Israel. (I asked if it had been performed in Ramallah, since that is the home of the character, and while the author and director did not answer specifically, it appeared clear that it has not been seen in Palestinian territories.)

What is remarkable is the high degree of humor in this piece. The man is so endearing, his agitation so pronounced and his observations of the world around him so keen that "In Spitting Distance" is powerfully entertaining. The audience I was part of certainly laughed and engaged fully, but the director said that when it played in Switzerlard, there was nary a laugh, as audiences there took it as deadly serious, which the artists found disconcerting.

Until next time...

Rick

Shakshuka

Last year, Alison and I discovered a little bar/bistro on Bograshov Street near Ben Yehuda Street, just a couple of blocks from our seaside hotel in Tel Aviv. It was called "Mr. Greenbush," and its 20-something pair of owners were charming, the food was excellent and the atmosphere comfortable. They admitted they were struggling, having opened the place just before that summer's Lebanon war, which killed business.

I returned there last night and it looked the same, but alas, I learned it's been under new ownership for many months and it has a new name..."Pub Lo Bar," which in Hebrew means, "pub--not a bar." Its focus is alcohol now, though it has a small menu for food, and I sampled one of two Shakshuka dishes.

If you're not familiar with this, it's a popular Israeli dish (not sure where it originated) of tomatoes and cheese and eggs. Though it is baked, the eggs are not scrambled or folded in like a souffle, but instead sit in the dish, so you enjoy the wonderful separation of white and yolk. They had an alternative version I will try next time, a Shakshuka with spinach and cream sauce.

Israeli playwright Shmuel Hasfari and I finally connected, and he told me he will take me today "for a plate of hummus." When I mentioned this to Alison, she was shocked: he always said that HE makes the best hummus. Hmmm. We'll see.

Until next time...

Rick

A City That Never Sleeps

A good thing for my jet lag, too!

Arrived in Tel Aviv yesterday via Delta Airlines from Atlanta, and all went smoothly. I checked into the Hotel Cinema, where the Institute for Israeli Drama is accommodating me. It's the former Esther Cinema on Dizengoff Square, built in 1939 in the International (Bauhaus) style, like much of this area of town. When I first visited Israel forty years ago, Dizengoff Square was a street-level traffic circle with cafes lining it. I'm not sure when it happened, but they raised the pedestrian plaza above the street (good for vehicle traffic flow, I'm sure) and placed a colorful Yakov Agam sculpture/fountain on top. There's more pedestrian activity a couple of blocks south, near Dizengoff Centre, the main center-city shopping mall.

The weather here is similar to what I left in California--warm, sunny days and cooler nights (actually not as cold as San Juan Capistrano over the Thanksgiving weekend, which dipped into the 40s).

So, last night, I took full advantage of this city's fame for burning the candle at both ends, and dined out, then visited a bar and chatted with the locals there, and finally retired at about 3 a.m. (Of course, that was only 5 p.m. California time!)

Up at 8:30 a.m. and ate a light breakfast (included) in the bright dining room. A full report on today's adventures later.

Until next time...

Rick

Tel Aviv Bound

As Middle East delegations arrive in Annapolis, Maryland next week for the Bush-Rice-engineered parlor games, IsraDrama begins in Tel Aviv, sponsored by the Institute for Israeli Drama, the International Theatre Institute-Israel and the Cameri Theatre of Tel Aviv.


There will be performances of about a dozen plays, the first of which is The Master of the House by Shmuel Hasfari, at the Cameri--the play I directed at the Laguna Playhouse last spring, and about which I will be delivering a talk entitled "Lost & Found in Translation" immediately following the Tel Aviv performance at the opening session of the conference on Wednesday.


I feel honored to have been asked to attend and to speak to the representatives of English-speaking nations from around the world, assembled to be exposed to Israeli drama and encouraged to produce more of it in their own theatres.


As time permits, I'll be sharing with you regular reports on the performances I attend, the people I meet and the sights and sounds of Tel Aviv.


Until next time...



Rick

"The Secret Order"

One of the most interesting dramas I produced at Laguna Playhouse was Bob Clyman's The Secret Order. It was about a researcher at a midwestern university who discovers the cure for cancer, is seduced into leaving for "the big cancer institute in New York," where he finds himself out of his league politically as well as utterly and inexplicably unable to replicate his earlier results.

The play was very well received in Laguna in our 2003 West Coast Premiere, by audiences and critics alike, and as it already had a commercial producer attached to it at the time, we had high hopes it might make it to Broadway. There were celebrity readings in LA and New York, directed by Milton Katselas, featuring the likes of Stacey Keachand Martin Landau (in LA) and Eli Wallach and Richard Dreyfuss (in NY).

Producer Norman Twain then lined up a theatre and actor John Spencer (of West Wing) for Broadway. Spencer's untimely death delayed the project until Ed Hermann said yes to Twain, then had to back out for a more lucrative film or tv project. Twain got busy with film projects and the play couldn't make it into the 2006-07 New York season.

At that point, author Bob Clyman requested that the Merrimack Theatre Company in Lowell, Massachusetts, be allowed to produce it. There, directed by Charles Towers, it was also well-received by audiences and critics.

Well, that production came into New York this week, Off Broadway at the 59E59 Theatres, and today earned the best New York Times review any Laguna Playhouse-related play has ever garnered in that publication. Here's the review.

On the strength of The Secret Order, and my continuing relationship with author Bob Clyman, I secured the World Premiere rights to his latest play last year, Tranced, which will have its debut in January. Having sent it to my friend and colleague Timothy Near at San Jose Rep, she got equally excited by it and programmed it for their season immediately following the Laguna premiere. I have not doubt more productions will follow.

Bob is an intelligent writer whose craft has been recognized by many in the theatre world for some time. Indeed, he was a writer in residence one summer at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center's National Playwrights Conference, one of the premier springboards for writers (e.g. August Wilson).

Kudos to Bob on having a New York hit, and here's to many more!

Until next time...

Rick

A Day Without Art?

I'd like to call your attention to this article in today's New York Times, entitled "Who'll stop the ring tones," about the third annual "No Music Day" in the UK this coming Wednesday, invented and promoted by Bill Drummond.

Though it's unrelated, it made me think about the World AIDS Day December 1st "Day Without Art" in the U.S. to commemorate the many artists lost to AIDS. Though noble in intent, this is something that I never quite bought into as the best way to contribute to public awareness of AIDS or to generate funds for AIDS research and victims. One particular LA Times reporter tried to beat up on the Laguna Playhouse when we said we were not cancelling performances on the "Day Without Art," but were providing literature about AIDS and conducting an event to raise funds; we could only satisfy her if we closed down for the day, and we never believed that was in the best interests of anyone. Today, "Day Without Art" is still observed by some arts organizations, with museums hanging black cloth over sculptures and paintings as a sign of mourning and respect. For me, I think Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS has the right idea--for a set period of time, they pitch the audience during their curtain calls and then the cast members (including major starts) stand at the exits to collect any donations people are willing to make.

The show must go on, and it's sad that many friends and loved ones did not survive this disease to be on stage and behind the scenes, but I am quite certain that this is how they would prefer their memories to be honored.

Until next time...

Rick

"The Umbrellas of Cherbourg"

Alison DVRed this, which neither of us had ever seen, and we watched it tonight. This 1964 movie musical featuring Catherine Deneuve and the music of Michel Legrand is a novelty. All of the dialogue is sung a la opera recitative. There are two signature tunes in the film that you will recognize, most notably "If it takes forever, I will wait for you." The boy-meets-girl-boy-gets-her-pregnant-on-his-last-night-before-going-into-the-army story is bland and predictable. The production design presages the psychedelic colors of the later 60s. Deneuve looks like she is the 17 year old she is playing--almost unrecognizable from the actress we have come to know and love. I wouldn't suggest that you run out and rent it, but if you ever have the chance to sample some of it, it's a most unusual experiment that is very much of its time, and worth taking a taste of even if you ultimately don't have the patience to sit the whole film out.

Until next time...

Rick