Two Jews Walk Into A War
The 2009-2010 South Florida theatre season has barely begun, and already a slew of new plays has hit the boards of local production houses, each affectionately deemed a "world premiere".
Too often, these world premieres receive few or no future productions, yet the theatre companies who sponsor, and invest their time, energies, and monies into the encouragement of these new works are to be applauded. Bravo, too, to South Florida audiences in particular for supporting the process.
Following suit, Florida Stage in Manalapan, Florida continues its reign as the nation’s largest professional theatre company that produces exclusively new theatre with its most recent production of Two Jews Walk Into A War... by Seth Rozin.
Based on a true story, Two Jews... depicts the lives of the last two remaining Jews in Kabul, Afghanistan that are discovered to be sharing the same synagogue as the NATO forces enter the city to oust the corrupt Taliban.
The two men, Zeblyan (Avi Hoffman) and Ishaq (Gordon McConnell), can barely contain their personal contempt for one another. Their shared determination to re-create the temple’s Torah that was stolen by the Taliban serves as the only bandage that keeps their wounded relationship from oozing into lifelessness.
McConnell masterfully brings Ishaq to life and embodies the character’s every nuance. From vocal accent to a struggled gait, McConnell deftly conveys Ishaq’s impassioned mission to restore the Torah from memory.
Hoffman’s Zeblyan is more carefree, more disheveled, and less detailed with his appointed task of transcribing Ishaq’s keen memory to parchment. Hoffman’s Zeblyan thus shines less brightly on the stage. Anything less detailed is quickly eclipsed by McConnell’s attention to specificity.
Richard Crowell’s impressive set and accompanying lighting design enter the ring, but certainly more than hold their own when it comes to the battle of detail. Cascading walls, and falling dust from each stray bullet’s invasion into the tattered temple, create a perfectly war weary atmosphere. Dimmed and obtuse lighting adroitly highlight the affects.
Rozin’s script starts off interestingly enough, exposing the odd couple’s inherent differences of character, which lie on opposite ends of the spectrum.
Too quickly, however, the script focuses more and more on the exact writings of the Torah and their underlying meanings. The two characters often disagree on interpretation, but the unshared opinions are expected, and therefore become insipid.
Director Louis Tyrrell does his best to keep the pace flowing, but Rozin’s script also contains an innumerable amount of blackouts which jilt the action.
Future rewrites might include more dialogue that further exposes the characters’ personal backgrounds and decisions which caused them to abandon their families in order to live in the synagogue alone. The scripture rewriting would then shift to secondary focus. Plot interest would correspondingly increase. Less blackouts would give the story a more continuous flow.
Kudos, still, to Florida Stage for promoting a new work with potential. Theater’s new frontier, in general, depends on such supportive encouragement.
Two Jews Walk Into A War... continues through November 29 at Florida Stage, 262 S. Ocean Blvd, Manalapan, FL 33462. For more information, visit the www.floridastage.org website
