Sunday, September 11, 2011

Yesha on 'Broadway'

Motti Lerner, grandson of one of the four infamous "Zichron Yaakov grandmothers", has a play of his from 16 years ago finally in New York:-

Untitled Theater Company #61 (UTC61) presents the New York premiere of Pangs of the Messiah

The year is 2015, and Israel is on the verge of signing a peace accord; in the West Bank settlements that Israel may soon abandon, no one is celebrating. Lerner's tense drama focuses on the Head of the Council of Settlements and his family as they struggle to retain the life they have built in anticipation of the coming of the Messiah. The play provides a rare window into the lives and psyches of the settlers from an insider's perspective. It is a family drama with broad political implications...In anticipation of the New York premiere, director Edward Einhorn visited Israel and the West Bank to research the settlements and further refine the script with Lerner, which is updated to reflect current events.
Where?  the 14th Street Y, 344 W. 14th Street
When?   October 27- November 20, Thursday - Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 3pm
Post show discussions to follow every Sunday matinee

Oh, tickets are only $18.

And those "grandmothers"?

Well, someone betrayed Sarah Aharonson, Nili heroine, to the Turks (in Hebrew) and as this review of Hillel Halkin's book notes-:

Sarah was captured and marched through town. Four Jewish women abused, excoriated and perhaps assaulted her, but whether they acted out of animosity or an instinct for self-preservation has never been clear. After being tortured by Turkish soldiers Sarah escaped to her own home long enough to retrieve a hidden gun and shoot herself.What happened to the four angry women is Halkin's quest. Particularly, was one of them, Perl Appelbaum, murdered in revenge by Sarah's friends in Zichron Yaakov?

And this:-

It was said that four women of the town were seen laughing at the arrests of their neighbors. Each met a strange fate: one died prematurely, the second went mad, the third was an invalid and the fourth lived out her life in disrepute.
One of them was Lerner's grandmother.

His texts and portrayals have been subliminally anti-nationalist and so expect a weird, twisted approach.

^

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