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White
Fire/Black Fire (The Dybbuk) by S. An-ski
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| Opened at the
Hungarian State Theatre of Cluj, Romania, May 2002. |
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| Regarded as the greatest Jewish play ever written,
The Dybbuk is a heady mixture of folk-tale, tragic love story
and dark mysticism. A brilliant young Kabbalist, Hannan, dies because
of a tragically unfulfilled love for Leah, the daughter of the rich
merchant, Sender. Unwilling to part from her, he enters her body as
a dybbuk or spirit, and the greater part of the play is devoted to
the dramatic struggle between the exorcist, Reb Azriel, and the dybbuk.
Ultimately Hannan is torn out of Leah's body, but she answers his
call to join him beyond this world, transcending life to fulfill her
love. |
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| Model
of the space, Act I |
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Model
of the space, Act III |
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The
"Sweepers" in the Prologue |
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In contrast to most productions of the play, David
chose to concentrate on the tragic love story rather than emphasize
the authentic Jewish rituals of exorcism that are usually the highlights
of the play. Thus he chose to have Hannan onstage throughout as a
constant physical presence, and to create a powerful, "pro-active"
version of Leah. Based on David's understanding of the inner mechanism
of tragedy as the retelling of a well-known story in an effort to
alter its course and bring it to a different conclusion, the entire
framework of
White Fire/Black Fire evolves from the attempt by the enigmatic
character of the Meshulakh to revive the ancient love story of Leah
and Hannan onstage and, by retelling it in performance, change its
tragic outcome. |
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| Leah
at the Synagogue, Act I |
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The
Wedding Dance, Act II |
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Dancing
in the air with the Meshulakh |
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| For this production, which was performed on the
stage space of Hungarian
State Theatre of Cluj, David and collaborator-designer Miriam
Guretzky, created a "total theatre" space, with scenes taking
place on a transverse stage, as well as around, above and even beyond
the audience, in the wings of the stage space. Based on the structure
of East European synagogues, the set, like the story itself, disintegrates
until all we are left with is a bare, black skeleton of iron scaffolding. |
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| The Romanian Theatre Union (UNITER) selected the
play in 2002 as one of the three finalists for the award of Best Performance
of the Year, and lead actress, Imola Kezdi, in her first major role
on stage, won the coveted Best Actress Award for 2002. |
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| Leah
and Reb Azriel, Act II |
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The
Exorcism – 2nd Round |
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The
Scream – 2nd Round |
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| Reviews |
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