An eye-opener – who knew?
Just back from Indecent at the Menier Chocolate Factory. This play by Paula Vogel examines the history of the Polish Yiddish writer Sholem Asch and his seminal play God of Vengeance.
Running from the turn of the century (when Asch was around 20) to the mid 50s, by examining the history of the play we also examine the history of central European Jewry – both in Europe and the Americas.
The Yiddish Theatre (and Yiddish literature) is something I know little about – and Asch sits rather outside that tradition – God of Vengeance – where a lesbian relationship is central – was denounced, in the USA, by a Rabbi – and later Asch is seen as a Christian apologist by some (the play does not touch on this).
[The central part of the play covers the first US productions – in Yiddish and then in translation, of God of Vengeance and the ensuing court case (instigated by the Rabbi) to close the play.]
What he wrote were novels and plays about real people with real relationships – warts and all – and this fitted no one’s agenda.
McCarthyism eventually drives him out of the US, somewhat fittingly for someone who danced to no one else’s tunes. The play is staged as plays within a play, with key moments of God of Vengeance staged.
The cast is an ensemble – with the 7 actors (and 3 musicians) introduced as stereotypes, covering perhaps 40 roles between them. The acting and direction are first class, and the Menier’s stark interiors carry simple projections – in English and Yiddish. There are some wonderful moments of theatric extravaganza – and of great emotion.
Clever use is made of accent – so that when the characters move, in the USA, from speaking Yiddish to English (it’s all, virtually, actually in English) they suddenly become heavily accented. That works.
Go see it, if you can, it’s very good theatre.