25 November, 6 pm
Stúdió K Theatre (Budapest, XI., Ráday u. 32.)
Israeli Night - Rehearsed reading of contemporary Israeli plays
(in Hungarian!!!)
Partner: The Institute of Israeli Drama
New plays by contemporary Israeli dramatists, Ilan Hatzor, Savyon Liebrecht, Hanna Azoulay-Hasfari and Hillel Mittelpunkt, are introduced to the Hungarian audience. Directed by Tamás Fodor, the plays are presented at a rehearsed reading, with the contribution of actors of Stúdió K. Texts were selected by Anna Lakos (Dramaturg, Associate of the Hungarian Theatre Museum and Institute, President of the Hungarian Centre of the International Theatre Institute) and András Forgách (freelance prose writer and dramatist), hosts of the Israeli Night.
András Forgách: Israeli drama in the third millennium
Recently, Israeli drama seems to have taken a reality check. A lot of new talents appeared on the horizon, and the ghastly tradition of trying to escape the gruesome reality of everyday bombings and political standstill through US-style stand-up comedy plays is slowly fading out. Today’s authors view their own country with a critical eye. They are not squeamish about delicate subjects, try to penetrate the mind of the enemy, do not only look at history from a victim’s perspective, are sensitive to changes in their language, and do not only imitate existing, long-standing dramatical forms. They have discovered micro-sociologically accurate, linguistically apt modern German and Anglo-Saxon drama, bringing various contemporary characters to life, from Jewish women at the communal bath, to Palestinians in remote, rural areas, who, being victims of their own fate, are ready to betray one another, from the older generation, unable to reconcile the past with the present, to young people.
Another clear sign of progress is that there are more and more commissioned plays, plays written by the director or directed by an actor. And though unauthentic methods are still present in traces, a new, fresh approach shines through. Authors do not want to please or comfort anymore but feel the urge to give true answers to true questions. Plays are no longer ramshackle structures that merely want to trumpet ideas but conform to dramaturgical rules.
The Plays of the Night:
Savyon Liebrecht: Am I speaking to you in Chinese?
Hillel Mittelpunkt: Accident
Hana Azulay-Hasfari: Kippur
1. Savyon Liebrecht: Am I speaking to you in Chinese
Translated into Hungarian by Eszter Demény
Liebrecht is primarily known for her prose in Israel, and, indeed, this play is an adaption of one of her novels. The plot unfolds on two parallel timelines but in the same location. It takes place in a flat in Tel Aviv, in an area that has seen better days. One storyline runs in the present: Miri would like to sell the flat she has inherited from her parents. In the flat, she meets an estate agent, who also grew up in the neighbourhood. The other storyline runs in the past, in the mid-60’s, when Miri (then called Mirele) was a teenager. She shares the flat with her parents, both Poland Holocaust survivors. Her mother’s little sister is a frequent, or rather permanent, visitor. They get entangled in a complicated, painful love-triangle, while trying to find a way to survive, forget and remember in a new country, without much success. Miri is helplessly torn between them as a child, but tries to interfere as an adult.
In the present, and in retrospect, a typical Israeli problem comes apparent: the antagonism between Ashkenazi (mainly European) and Sephardic (mainly Spanish, North-African, and Middle-Eastern) Jews. The Estate Agent, Simon, is from Iraq. His whole life, he was looking up to his Ashkenazi neighbours for their cleanliness and culturedness, which had reached its peak in his unrequited love for Mirele. In return, he has received nothing but contempt and indifference. Naturally, as an outsider, he has not noticed the difficult family dynamics. When it finally does fall apart because of the overwhelming traumas, he takes care of the ailing mother, as a good “son”…
Characters: In the past Mirele: 15-18 years old (She is treated as a little girl, and indeed she is one. She adores her father and aunt. At the end, she suddenly becomes an adult.)
Marta: 40 years old, Mirele’s mother (A bitter woman with obsessive cleaning habits, etc.)
Avram: 40 years old, Mirele’ father (The only nice person. A good man, loving husband and father.)
Karola: 35 years, Mirele’s aunt on her mother’s side (A youthful, energetic, pretty lady, provocative about her personal tragedy and very cheeky)
All three (Marta, Avram, Karola) are Holocaust survivors.
In the present Miri: 38 years old, Company Director (Arrives in a Mercedes Benz, looks well-off.)
Simon: 35 years old, Estate Agent (He is of Iraqi origin, which is significant. He has a huge spider tattoo on his chest. Miri fancies him when she is drunk.)
2. Hillel Mittelpunkt: Accident
Translated into Hungarian by Andor Kelenhegyi
Hillel Mittelpunkt is less known in Hungary, though she has been extremely successful in Israel since the 1980’s. In addition to several plays, she is author of two major screenplays, Bouba (1987) and Sahkanim (1995).
Mittelpunkt’s plays are austere, challenging, mostly based on personal experience and have a strong political stance. They describe the small but significant conflicts of everyday life with great accuracy. Her new play, Accident, opening in November in Hungary, has been a great success in London. The author describes with striking honesty how a car accident turns upside down the life of the main characters, a life that has been so perfectly planned to every little detail. The characters, with their individual problems and weaknesses, are forced to open up to one another after the accident and gradually their true self is revealed. The play asks an earnest question: What is worth more, the truth or selfish desires, a comfortable, but empty and pointless life?
Characters:
Adam: 55 years old, a university professor of cinematography. He has an affair with Tami, Lior’s wife. He seems to have a harmonious relationship with his wife, Nira, but has had several brief affairs during the years that Nira is aware of. Nira looks up on Adam but at the same time, she is jealous of him for being so close to their daughter. Adam is getting older, often loses his self-confidence and acts arrogant. He seems to have a good relationship with Lior but gets hostile with him because of Tami.
Nira: Adam’s wife, about 50 years old, a senior associate of the University Library. She does not have a good relationship with her daughter, Siri, as the child has reservations. She is not very fond of Lior and Tami and they have a superficial relationship. She has an inferiority complex because of her job, husband and his friends. She is cold, stubborn, and doesn’t listen to anyone.
Siri: Adam and Nira’s daughter, student, about 20 years old. She is very independent but needs her father. She has an affair with Lior, a friend of Adam and Nira, and she has a live-in boyfriend. She is ambitious and sensitive. Looks up on Adam but doesn’t have a good relationship with Nira. She is in love with Lior and is kind to Tami (maybe to make up for stealing her husband.
Lior: Tami’s husband, consultant at an investment company. About 40 years old. He looks up on Adam. He doesn’t love his wife, Tami, and has an affair with Siri. He is opportunistic, and tries to avoid conflicts. He is not happy with his life.
Tami: Lior’s wife, 35 years old, a researcher at the Defence Ministry (maybe a physicist). She is in love with Adam and they have an affair. She is strong, selfish and aggressive. Nobody can get in her way. She can’t have her own child so is trying to adopt. It is very important for her to become a mother. She is calculating. She is not fond of Nira or Lior, and we don’t know what she thinks about Siri.
3. Hana Azulay-Hasfari: Kippur
Synopsis
There are four grown up women: a student, an entrepreneur, a middle-aged housewife and an ultra-orthodox wife with eight children. They are sisters but they haven’t met for years. Now they come back to their childhood home after the disappearance of their mother.
We are in the mother’s flat in the arid, southern part of Israel, Netivot. The Morocco-born religious leader, Baba Sali, was buried here, and his tomb still attracts many pilgrims. His burial was attended by more than a 100 thousand devotees. According to the legend, a soldier who was paralysed in both legs in the Yom Kippur War, fully recovered, having prayed and kissed the rabbi’s hand. Thanks to Baba Sali, the town, together with the whole Negev region, has rapidly developed. Netivot is popular with poorer Moroccan immigrants.
The women’s mother also lived here. They spend Yom Kippur in the abandoned flat. With their parents gone, the women can be finally on their own, and indeed, they use the time to get back at each other for past offences. One intends to take revenge on another, the second one gangs up with the third on the fourth… Peeping through the keyhole, we can observe the life of these four women. They all went their different ways, yet share very much the same fate. The performance gives a great insight into women’s lives in today’s Israel.
The Yum Kippur backdrop creates a special atmosphere. The religious holiday is marked by all-day praying in the synagogue, which can be heard through the window throughout the play. It is very hot in Israel in the middle of September, especially in the southern Negev Desert, and all those tensions coming to the surface in one big blow send temperatures even higher…
The ultra orthodox Evlin has a special role in the play. She is the one who took on the traditional Jewish female role, and became a housewife in a very conservative family. She works for her husband and children night and day, and she is the one who intends to do – what is more, overdo – the 25-hour fasting and intensive praying. The main theme of the play is understanding and acceptance. The question is: does complete adherence to the ritual brings you closer to forgiving?
One great merit of the play is that it avoids spectacular effects and operates with very subtle methods. These scenes could be repeated in every family but usually stay behind closed doors. The play succeeds in bringing them out with striking honesty and courage.
Another theme is: should women always put their family first, or they have the right to think of their personal happiness, health and beauty too? Do women have the right to an independent life, without husband and family? The play lines up several human reactions to these difficult questions: rejection, madness, mental illness, as well as real solidarity and humanity.
The four sisters come home and try to find out where their mother is gone. She had officially given up the flat. Only one of the girls, Amira, lived with her. As a media student, she keeps many things on film record, and the films are used for projection in the background throughout the play. She knows a lot about what happened the days before the mother disappeared but she does not want to, and is unable, to disclose this information before the end of the play. One of the reasons for this is that she is not allowed to use technical equipment during the holiday. The diversion is so successful that even the audience forgets about the disappearance of the mother. The tension is released at the end with the help of Amira and her ‘flatmate’, the camera. Nevertheless, Amira has been trying to finish her diploma project for months without success – at least she will be able to accomplish her film based on the events that unfold during the holiday.
When the holiday is over, the flat needs to be handed over to the authorities, so the women are putting everything they find in boxes. Their parents’ clothes, belongings, and old childhood memorabilia brings back all those memories.
To add to the excitement, we hear about Evlin’s diabetes, which becomes frightening because of her umpteenth pregnancy, we learn why Fanni, the businesswoman, had tried to live her life to the full when she was young, and have a glimpse into the failed marriage of the oldest sister, Malka. The conflicts seem to be resolved by the end of the long day.