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A CurtainUp DC Review
Bad Jews
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I'm a bad Jew. —Liam, a secular Jew, as he admits to having eaten a cookie during Passover
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Irene Sofia Lucio (Daphna) and Alex Mandell (Liam)
(Photo: Teddy Wolff)
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Daphna, performed with ferocious intensity by Irene Sofia Lucio, is jealous of her cousins Liam and Jonah, who are brothers. Jonah who is very introspective mourns the loss of his grandfather quietly. He plays computer games rather than engage in conversation with Daphna — what's the point it would only be one-sided she's such an opinionated super Jew.
Jonah (a sweetly sensitive performance by Joe Paulik) gets agitated only when his brother Liam arrives. They engage in brotherly banter much of which has to do with Daphna whom they cannot abide. Liam (Alex Mandell who very convincingly takes his character's anger from zero to 90 in a fraction of a second) missed his grandfather's funeral because of a flimsy excuse. With him is his girlfriend, Melody. Maggie Erwin as the ironically-named former opera major does a splendid star turn as the quintessential sweet and caring, not-too-bright blond shiksa, the antithesis of Daphna.
What's at stake here is the attitude of the cousins' generation towards not just the Holocaust as family history but their attitudes toward contemporary Judaism. Playwright Joshua Harmon, a graduate of Juilliard's playwriting program, presents all sides (the orthodox pro-Israel feminist, the silent
deal with my own issues in my own waycousin and his brother, a secular Jew) with compassion rather than criticism, humor and depth. The ninety-minute no -intermission play, Harmon's first, snaps from sharp, sardonic humor to pathos to the ever-debatable complexities of what it means to be a Jew.
Serge Sieden directs this cacophonous quartet of perfectly cast actors with great intelligence and humor. Luciana Stecconi's set certainly feels like a claustrophobic Manhattan studio apartment and Kelsey Hunt's costumes are appropriate for the cousins demographic. You don't have to be Jewish to enjoy and be moved by Bad Jews since the play will make you think about love, family, and cultural history. Listen to me: it's a terrific show and you should see it.
To read Curtainup's review when the play premiered off-Broadway go here
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Bad Jews by Joshua Harmon Directed by Serge Seiden ast: Joe Paulik (Jonah); Irene Sofia Lucio (Daphna); Alex Mandell (Liam); Maggie Erwin (Melody) Set Designer: Luciana Stecconi, Costume Designer: Kelsey Hunt, Sound Designer: Palmer Hefferan C Running time: 90 minutes Studio Theatre, 1501 14th Street, NW, Washington, DC. 20005. www.studiotheatre.org; tickets November 5 to December 21, 2014. Review by Susan Davidson based on Sunday , November 9, 2014. |
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