"Waiting for Godot"
A Great Artistic Achievement
by Yitschok Niborski
From March 14th to March 21st, the New York based New Yiddish Repertory Theater, presented "Waiting For Godot," Samuel Beckett's most famous play, as part of the”Commencez! Paris Beckett" festival.
Forward readers are already familiar with this piece, staged a couple of years ago by director Moshe Yassur, and performed at a Beckett festival in Northern Ireland in 2014. The play first opened in the French capital in 1952, and is still popular in Paris, often staged by renowned directors and actors.
This Yiddish version is not lacking in comparison with the French productions, and has, besides, it's own particular Yiddish charm.
It isn't easy to digest a play about two forlorn, ragged, hungry people, waiting in some unpleasant, desolate, backwater, for the mysterious Godot, about whom they know nothing other than that he promised to come. Since it's premiere, this harsh, avant-garde work was in the first instance considered scandalous, and was later variously interpreted. Many postulated (despite the authors denial) that the name Godot hints at God, and the content of the piece is metaphysical. In the last ten years, however, based on Beckett's notes and other evidence, critics have leaned towards a political interpretation: the protagonists symbolize refugees, perhaps even persecuted Jews waiting in vain for salvation in a far flung corner of France under Nazi occupation. Nu, if we're taking about refugees, clothing them in Yiddish is like fitting them in their own skin. This Yiddish version, in Shane Baker's outstanding translation, plays as if it were the original. In particular, David Mandelbaum plays Estragon, the physical and spiritual embodiment of the eternally soul-sick being, with such authentic Yiddish geste, in every wrinkle and in every movement, that if one didn't know better one would think that Beckett wrote the role specifically for him. His fellow sufferer Vladimir, more prosaic and self-controlled, is played with great naturalness, by Shane Baker. Even the contrast in dialects between the actors, the "Galitzianer" Mandelbaum, and the "Litvak" Baker, impishly portrays two different personalities, who together depict the despair of the persecuted and homeless.
Although most of the dialogue is carried by these two actors, the equally important role of Lucky, is skillfully and brilliantly portrayed by Rafael Goldwaser. Through mime and movement he brings to life this strange personage, and though he is mute almost throughout, when he does break out into a strange absurdist monologue, it provides one of the high points of the piece. Ben Rosenblatt ably portrays the role of Pozzo, the crazed character that lords it over Lucky. The small role of Godot's messenger is played with appropriate innocence by Isaac Segal. The stage manager Jesse Freedman also did his part in this very successful production. It is interesting to compare New Yiddish Rep's production with the Yiddish version produced last year by Yiddish Spiel in Tel Aviv, translated and directed by Joshua Sobel. Sobel is an important theater artist, and his production, of course, had its good points. But his translation limps along, and he introduces unnecessary elements, so that the piece has a strange aftertaste, despite its successful aspects. The American company, by contrast, offers a "Godot" with a natural, flowing, Yiddish, that resounds with the dark lot of forlorn, hunted people of all times and places.
All of the performances were well attended, many of them overflowing the space at the Centre Culturel Irlandais. where the festival took place. Besides Yiddish speakers, the festival naturally drew a goodly crowd of Beckettians, a portion of whom were curious to see the impact of Yiddish on the masterwork of their beloved playwright. The author of these lines spoke to several of them, and they all praised the authenticity of the piece, in particular it's unfolding of Beckett's theatrical concept.
As to the Yiddish speaking audience, they were truly delighted. It was a shame to get up from one's seat after nearly two hours, during the course of which Beckett's lofty, universal, creation, was so magically intermingled with the joy of the Yiddish word.
A Great Artistic Achievement
by Yitschok Niborski
From March 14th to March 21st, the New York based New Yiddish Repertory Theater, presented "Waiting For Godot," Samuel Beckett's most famous play, as part of the”Commencez! Paris Beckett" festival.
Forward readers are already familiar with this piece, staged a couple of years ago by director Moshe Yassur, and performed at a Beckett festival in Northern Ireland in 2014. The play first opened in the French capital in 1952, and is still popular in Paris, often staged by renowned directors and actors.
This Yiddish version is not lacking in comparison with the French productions, and has, besides, it's own particular Yiddish charm.
It isn't easy to digest a play about two forlorn, ragged, hungry people, waiting in some unpleasant, desolate, backwater, for the mysterious Godot, about whom they know nothing other than that he promised to come. Since it's premiere, this harsh, avant-garde work was in the first instance considered scandalous, and was later variously interpreted. Many postulated (despite the authors denial) that the name Godot hints at God, and the content of the piece is metaphysical. In the last ten years, however, based on Beckett's notes and other evidence, critics have leaned towards a political interpretation: the protagonists symbolize refugees, perhaps even persecuted Jews waiting in vain for salvation in a far flung corner of France under Nazi occupation. Nu, if we're taking about refugees, clothing them in Yiddish is like fitting them in their own skin. This Yiddish version, in Shane Baker's outstanding translation, plays as if it were the original. In particular, David Mandelbaum plays Estragon, the physical and spiritual embodiment of the eternally soul-sick being, with such authentic Yiddish geste, in every wrinkle and in every movement, that if one didn't know better one would think that Beckett wrote the role specifically for him. His fellow sufferer Vladimir, more prosaic and self-controlled, is played with great naturalness, by Shane Baker. Even the contrast in dialects between the actors, the "Galitzianer" Mandelbaum, and the "Litvak" Baker, impishly portrays two different personalities, who together depict the despair of the persecuted and homeless.
Although most of the dialogue is carried by these two actors, the equally important role of Lucky, is skillfully and brilliantly portrayed by Rafael Goldwaser. Through mime and movement he brings to life this strange personage, and though he is mute almost throughout, when he does break out into a strange absurdist monologue, it provides one of the high points of the piece. Ben Rosenblatt ably portrays the role of Pozzo, the crazed character that lords it over Lucky. The small role of Godot's messenger is played with appropriate innocence by Isaac Segal. The stage manager Jesse Freedman also did his part in this very successful production. It is interesting to compare New Yiddish Rep's production with the Yiddish version produced last year by Yiddish Spiel in Tel Aviv, translated and directed by Joshua Sobel. Sobel is an important theater artist, and his production, of course, had its good points. But his translation limps along, and he introduces unnecessary elements, so that the piece has a strange aftertaste, despite its successful aspects. The American company, by contrast, offers a "Godot" with a natural, flowing, Yiddish, that resounds with the dark lot of forlorn, hunted people of all times and places.
All of the performances were well attended, many of them overflowing the space at the Centre Culturel Irlandais. where the festival took place. Besides Yiddish speakers, the festival naturally drew a goodly crowd of Beckettians, a portion of whom were curious to see the impact of Yiddish on the masterwork of their beloved playwright. The author of these lines spoke to several of them, and they all praised the authenticity of the piece, in particular it's unfolding of Beckett's theatrical concept.
As to the Yiddish speaking audience, they were truly delighted. It was a shame to get up from one's seat after nearly two hours, during the course of which Beckett's lofty, universal, creation, was so magically intermingled with the joy of the Yiddish word.