Faith explored in two disparate works
Ron Hirsen’s “Elegy” ( at the Victory Gardens Biograph), and Motti Lerner’s “Paulus” (at Silk Road Rising) each deal with matters of faith, but do so in radically different ways. The only thing they have in common is that each of the playwrights is Jewish.
As the familiar quip goes: “Ask two Jews, get three opinions.” But in this case there will just be two brief reviews:
Hirsen’s play neatly coincides with the 75th anniversary of Kristallnacht (Night of Broken Glass), the Nazi pogrom in Germany widely viewed as the start of the Holocaust. But while it recalls that event, it is far more concerned with the Holocaust’s aftermath — the lingering psychological damage to those who survived the concentration camps, and the complex “inheritance” of children born to those survivors.
Set primarily in New York in the 1970s, the play homes in on Jerry (Justin Leider), the accomplished but troubled twentysomething university student who is the only child of Helmut ( David Wohl) and Hilde ( Iris Lieberman). Jerry’s parents met in Berlin before the war, when Helmut was a maverick young poet who worked in the cafe owned by his loyally German Jewish father (Bernard Beck). Helmut was eventually sent to a camp, a fate Hilde managed to avoid. But after the war, both met again in New York, married, and became parents of the son Helmut calls his “miracle child.” Of course the pressure that comes with such love and expectation can be overwhelming.
Not surprisingly, something died in Helmut in the camps, and now, working as a baker, he moves through life largely numb to his feelings. His son, desperate to connect to his emotionally cut-off father, tries to force him back to life and to retrieve his lost “voice” — his youthful passion for poetry. It proves a fierce and profoundly painful struggle for both men.
While Hirsen’s play is clearly a cry from the heart ( a feeling beautifully captured by cellist Bill Meyers’s intermittent playing) it is stiffly written and largely unplayable, despite the efforts of the actors and director Dennis Zacek.
“Elegy” (Somewhat Recommended) runs through Dec. 1 at the Victory Gardens Biograph, 2433 N. Lincoln. For tickets ($42) call (773) 8713000; victorygardens.org.
“Paulus” is the work of an Israeli playwright who, in interviews, has spoken often about being a non-believer seeking the possibility of belief. But the story that unfolds in his play might very well drive some to pagan tree-hugging rather than formal religion.
Part Biblical pageant, part theological argument play, “Paulus” looks back to the period when, after the crucifixion of Jesus, the title character (born Saul, and a Roman citizen), split from traditional Jewish doctrine, converted to Christianity and proclaimed Jesus as the Messiah.
In a nutshell (though doing some homework is a must with this play), at the core of Paulus’ dramatic shift is a rejection of the notion that believers must strictly abide by the 613 commandments of Jewish law. Instead, he wanted to spread the gospel and welcome gentiles into the fold, creating a more open, immediately rewarding sense of redemption. Ironically, Paulus learns the hard way that salvation does not always come.
Though artfully directed by Jimmy McDermott (on a fine set by Dan Stratton), Lerner’s attempt to mix declamatory rhetoric “We’ll make Jews of the whole world”), with a Monty Python-like song (“It’s No Easy Job to Be God”) doesn’t quite gel. Yet the cast is strongly led by Daniel Cantor as the brutally abused Paulus, with Anthony DiNicola as his sweet, Sancho Panza- like attendant; Torrey Hanson as an aged “ghost” of Jesus; and Bill McGough, Dana Black, Carolyn Hoerdemann, Glenn Stanton and D’Wayne Taylor in supportiang roles.
“Paulus” ( Somewhat Recommended) runs through Dec. 15 at Silk Road Rising, 77 W. Washington. For tickets ($35) call (312) 8571234, ext. 201; www.silkroadrising.org.