Forget me not
New play tackles sensitive issues of Alzheimer’s and agunot
While it’s commonplace for a theatrical production to grapple with important issues, it is decidedly less common for one play to deal with two hot-button issues at once. In the new play Shivrey Luchot, this is precisely the case.
The story, based on real events, centers on the subjects of agunot (women bound in marriage due to a missing husband or one who refuses to grant a divorce) and Alzheimer’s. The topic of agunot is a controversial one, especially among the ultra-Orthodox, while Alzheimer’s is often avoided altogether. Shivrey Luchot opens on July 31st at Beit Mazia in Jerusalem. The Jerusalem Post sat down the play’s director, Tzion Ashkenazi, to discuss the balance of portraying such sensitive subject matter to audiences and how impactful theater can be a mirror to society at large.
What is your background and how did you get involved with this play?
I was religious until I was 22. I didn’t come from a religious house, but I decided at nine years old that I would become religious, which is very young. So I have these roots.
When I met this beautiful Jewish theater it clicked from the beginning. It’s really interesting to work with these subjects. I met Rabbi Hagai Lober, the company’s founder, and he invited me to direct. I had done another show, from Shai Agnon, before this one, so this is my second project with them.
I think it’s a really interesting story, based on true events about a rabbi who is a posek Halacha. He’s very smart and influential. While making a halachic ruling, he realizes that he has early onset Alzheimer’s. The whole play, he is trying to deal with this and can not tell anyone because if people knew that he made this ruling in such a state, they may say he was not very clear-headed and it might be nullified. This is a big problem for him. It’s interesting to see a person his age who is dealing with this issue; he can not tell his son, his family, or his yeshiva that he is suffering. He must keep it a secret. The ruling itself that he made is to free an aguna, or chained women, whose husband is in a vegetative state in the hospital. It was a step forward for women’s rights, but he is criticized for it in his community. He did something very big and in religious circles, they were afraid of it.
The playwright is Orit Gal, who is an amazing female playwright.
What is most striking about Shivrey Luchot is that these are two very important issues in one play.
It’s amazing as a drama, it’s very effective. These two parallel lines run together throughout the play. The audience is worried, afraid, excited – and at the end, maybe sad. But the ruling that he made about agunot is something that will remain after him and help a lot of women. It touches the heart. Thankfully, I’ve had really talented actors to work with and it has been a pleasure for me as a director. All of them were very interested by the material. They did research and produced beautiful work during rehearsals.
That makes your job as a director much easier I imagine.
Yes, it’s been wonderful to explore the themes and find how to bring them to the stage. If you watched the movie Still Alice, Julianne Moore portrays a linguistics professor who discovers she has early-onset Alzheimer’s and it’s done very well. As a director and as an actor, you don’t want to over-dramatize it too much, but you also want the audience to feel what’s happening and how incredibly difficult and painful the situation is.
What do you hope audiences will take away from the play?
Bringing this message to the stage is a powerful way to touch people. I hope that the audience will connect with it and maybe see some of their own stories, or those of loved ones. There is something very poetic in dealing with both of these issues at once. We live a very fast life nowadays. Sometimes we are thinking of death and what will happen when we grow old, but suddenly you see on stage this man who is only 49 and has to deal with all of these things at this age.
We all lose our childhoods. Every ten years, it feels that we are losing something in a way. There is something very poetic to see this process happening in this way to Rav Aryeh. It’s touching and I think it will affect people. I want people to appreciate the moments of their lives now and that they are living. At one point in the play, Rav Aryeh says that he won’t have better days, that every day will be less and less. We must appreciate every minute, and that we can explain ourselves and understand the world around us in a clear way. This is something. Life is really only this moment; I hope that people will understand and believe that after seeing the play.
I wanted to ask about the name of the theater company, Aspaklaria. What does it mean?
It means “mirror” in Hebrew, but it’s not a common word that would be used daily, it’s a high-level literary word. I think it’s the perfect name because this is Jewish theater, but not necessarily religious theater. It’s important to touch on subjects from the Jewish world and hold up a mirror to our people. The material Hagai chooses every year is really amazing and can touch everyone, from religious to secular and in-between.
This kind of theater company is not trying to preach to you; it’s a fusion of Jewish tradition and culture. It touches on humanity. For instance, I live in Tel Aviv and am not religious at all, and they like that I am bringing a new perspective as a director. Most of the actors are also not religious and it’s something special because it makes it different. To purchase tickets, visit: http://www.aspaklaria.org/newplay.asp?id=156