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A CurtainUp Review
Indecent
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I have to write something to change the
way Christians see us —that make them
see that we are one people with one
common root — or they will rip us out,
root by root, from the earth until we are
no more.
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Adina Verson and Katrina Lenk (photo: Carol Rosegg
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The starting point for this Yale Rep world premiere is Sholem Asch's controversial 1907 play, The God of Vengeance, which, traveling from Poland to Berlin to St. Petersburg to New York, trailed shame and scandal in its wake. While Vogel acknowledges the drama's being considered an insult to Jews, she's concerned with the play's history, the artists who daringly brought it to life and, most of all, its two most rebellious characters.
Asch's Vengeance tells of a family that lives above the brothel it also runs. The parents have a daughter, Rifkele, whom they want to marry off, but her interests are elsewhere. She is, either seduced by or goes willingly into the arms of one of the downstairs whores, Manke, leading to all sorts of hysteria and black marks. Despite references to Yiddish theater and pogroms, Vogel's main interest is in said love affair between the women which has the double whammy of both focusing the work and causing its repetitions.
Indecent itself begins with a testy reading of The God of Vengeance in a salon headed by a Polish Jew who wants to encourage works in Yiddish. Its subsequent performances, amusingly depicted as becoming increasingly melodramatic, eventually reach off-Broadway when the troupe migrates to America. Encouraged by a positive reception, the work moves to Broadway, but not before the script is scrubbed of "offensive" aspects, meaning, chiefly, its optimistic attitude towards the lesbian romance.
Still, the work is sufficiently objectionable that the authorities close in, jailing the producer and actors for obscenity and ending the play's run. One major complainer is Rabbi Joseph Silverman who is both the play's tower of intolerance and its unwitting Cassandra.
"I expect scurrilous lies from (those) who call themselves Christian," he says in his denunciatory sermon, "but to be hit by a stone in my back by a fellow Jew! . . . Perhaps two Jewish women will, decades from now, be able to exchange vows as bride and groom and who knows, stand under the huppah together."
Thus Vogel, clearly on the side of the lesbians, bridges years, contrasting the 20th century, when to be gay was anathema, and the 21st, in the era of legal same-sex marriage. Further, despite Indecent's ostensible emphasis on Vengeance's travails and its depiction of Judaism, it is as much about creativity and the artist's desires to express herself.
The evening’s most lyrical scene, a fantasy where the two lovers venture into the rain, get soaked and run off together, is as good a climax as any. But Vogel has more to say; indeed, the play seems about to end several times before it actually does.
Although Richard Topol stands out as the compassionate, versatile Lemml, all the actors superbly take on numerous roles in what is truly an ensemble production. Katrina Lenk, Mimi Lieber, Max Gordon Moore, Tom Nelis, Steven Rattazzi and Adina Verson join musicians Gutkin, Halva and Travis W. Hendrix in embodying the period style and contemporary implications of this historical piece.
With further work and some judicious cutting (it runs 105 minutes with no intermission), Indecent may turn out to be a major work. As it is, it's exciting theater.
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Indecent by Paula Vogel Created by Paula Vogel and Rebecca Taichman Directed by Rebecca Taichman Choreographed by David Dorfman Composed by Lisa Gutkin, Aaron Halva Music Direction by Aaron Halva CAST: Richard Topol (Lemml, the Stage Manager), Katrina Lenk, Mimi Lieber, Max Gordon Moore, Tom Nelis, Steven Rattazzi, Adina Verson (the Actors), Lisa Gutkin, Aaron Halva, Travis W. Hendrix (the Musicians) Scenic Design: Riccardo Hernandez Costume Design: Emily Rebholz Lighting Design: Christopher Akerlind Sound Design: Matt Hubbs Projection Design: Tal Yarden Dialect Coach: Stephen Gabis Fight Director: Rick Sordelet Yiddish Consultant: Joel Berkowitz Production Dramaturg: Amy Boratko Casting Director: Tara Rubin Casting Stage Manager: Amanda Spooner Running time: 105 minutes, no intermission Yale Rep, New Haven, Conn., Oct. 2-24, 2015 Reviewed Oct. 8, 2015 |
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