{"id":13200,"date":"2011-06-26T23:25:36","date_gmt":"2011-06-27T06:25:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/?p=13200"},"modified":"2011-07-02T01:36:27","modified_gmt":"2011-07-02T08:36:27","slug":"schitz-2011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/?p=13200","title":{"rendered":"Schitz – 2011"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Esti Kosovitzki in Schitz\/Photo: Gadi Dagon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

With a song and a smile, Schitz<\/em> scrapes off the thin sugary veneer of human existence, biting into the wormlike thoughts and squirming scheming emotional tangle within. Hanoch Levin\u2019s play is directed by Yagil Eliraz, with music by Adi Zisman.<\/p>\n

Levin\u2019s rough and tumble no-holds-barred humor, a facility and freedom with language and imagery bordering on a verbal drunken spree, is treated here to an interpretation that makes excellent use of the text and its possibilities. The play opens on a dark set, without words, only the sound of a spoon scraping the bottom of the bowl and lackadaisical slurping indicates the family meal. When the stage lights come on they reveal a deliberately abstract set, designed by Roni Carmel: a long table composed of three modular units, and a gray wall with frame-like openings in different sizes, suggesting a living room wall peppered with paintings or family photos.\u00a0 At one end of the table is Tsesha, the mother (Esti Kosovitzki), in a classic red flowered house dress and frizzy hair. At the other end is the daughter, Schprachtzi (Irit Kaplan) an over-grown little girl in a doll-like pink flowered dress and pig-tails. The father, Fefechts (Rami Baruch) is in the center.<\/p>\n

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Rami Baruch and Irit Kaplan in Schitz\/Photo: Gadi Dagon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Delicacy and subterfuge are hilariously shoved aside by dialogue that could not possibly be more explicit. When the mother tells her daughter \u201cNu, get married already, you are already dry\u201d and the daughter responds along the lines of \u201cWhy don\u2019t you die already?\u201d there\u2019s no need to search hard for subtext, or is there? Schitz plunges us into a surreal world of family life accompanied by live music (Adi Zisman on piano and Yehonatan Givoni on percussion), with a cabaret feel. From Schprachtzi\u2019s plaint \u201clet a man come my way\u201d to Fefechts\u2019 anthemic \u201cI have two trucks,\u201d Zisman\u2019s music lures the listener into rhythmic complicity, much as Eliraz\u2019 comedic staging lulls us into laughter at the romantic foibles of Schprachtzi and her beau Tcharchess (Alon Dahan), who only want to live a little, love a little, and do away with Dad.<\/p>\n

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Irit Kaplan and Alon Dahan in Schitz\/Photo: Gadi Dagon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It\u2019s a tour de force tour of humanity\u2019s low points, just as you think they\u2019ve plundered the depths of depravity and loathsomeness, they sink a little lower. All four cast members are incredible, with one memorable scene after another with a range that embraces the broadest humor as well as poignant nuances. It is a tremendously entertaining play, and more.<\/p>\n

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Rami Baruch in Schitz\/Photo: Gadi Dagon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The play exposes every sleazy sinew of human desire in all its ugliness and vulnerability. Schprachtzi, the obedient puppet of a daughter at home, the wallflower at the party snack bar \u201cgrowing uglier by the minute\u201d and the seductress on the prowl, ready to do whatever it takes (with some creative costume help) to seal the deal. Tsesha, a small woman with small manipulations, attaching herself to any small hope for advancement or amusement, her survival depends on the extent to which the others are dependent on her.<\/p>\n

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Esti Kosovitzki and Irit Kaplan in Schitz\/Photo: Gadi Dagon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

One of the most striking scenes occurs when Tsesha begs to join Schprachtzi at a caf\u00e9 and the newly married, newly powerful daughter replies: \u201cWomen like you walk by caf\u00e9s on their way to Kupat Holim (Israeli HMO)\u2026I can\u2019t give up my comforts, if that\u2019s what you wanted you should have educated me when I was a child\u2026Bye \u2013 we\u2019ll come over for a holiday dinner to eat and leave you to clean up the mess.\u201d Fefechts has his moments of glory \u2013 a self-satisfied tap dance reveling in his assets, and desperation \u2013 appreciated only for his money; he throws a tantrum in the midst of negotiations with the groom-to-be: \u201cthe father would like just for once to receive rather than to give!\u201d Tcharchess, the groom whose \u201cdesires are small and disappointments are small\u201d achieves the pinnacle of sleaze, having apparently no redeeming qualities whatsoever, yet ultimately, he too is vulnerable.<\/p>\n

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Schitz - the wedding scene\/Photo: Gadi Dagon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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Rami Baruch in Schitz\/Photo: Gadi Dagon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Pushing the envelope of acceptable behavior \u2013 the wedding scene is outrageously wonderful \u2013 puts the question out there: what are we willing to accept? Levin introduces small notes that connect private to public, individual to collective ethics, a theme that builds subtly and gradually to its final crescendo. The small acts of cruelty and loathsomeness inside the family and the indifference to (and willingness to profit from) human suffering on a grand scale are intimately connected.<\/p>\n

Schitz, directed by the playwright Hanoch Levin, first premiered at the Haifa Theatre in 1975. As a commentary on Israeli culture and its greater context it remains as relevant today as it was then, a testimony to the strength of the play and the tragedy of our lives.<\/p>\n

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Alon Dahan and Irit Kaplan in Schitz\/Photo: Gadi Dagon<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Shitz, by Hanoch Levin, Directed by Yagil Eliraz
\nMusic: Adi Zisman
\nSet and costume design: Roni Carmel
\nLighting: Jake Sliv
\nDramaturgy: Shai Shabtay
\nMovement: Meirav Alhadef
\nPerformers: Rami Baruch, Esti Kosovitzki, Alon Dahan and Irit Kaplan
\nPiano: Adi Zisman, Percussion: Yehonatan Givoni<\/p>\n

Photographs: Gadi Dagon
\nDuration: 1 hour, 30 minutes
\nThe Cameri Theatre, 19 Shaul Hamelech Boulevard, Tel Aviv
\nPerformance dates and times available on the Cameri website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Cameri Theatre production of Hanoch Levin\u2019s play, directed by Yagil Eliraz, with music by Adi Zisman, is a tribute to the Mara Theatre of Kiryat Shmona, founded by Menachem Ainy z\u201dl, in 1999.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With a song and a smile, Schitz scrapes off the thin sugary veneer of human existence, biting into the wormlike thoughts and squirming scheming emotional tangle within. Hanoch Levin\u2019s play is directed by Yagil Eliraz, with music by Adi Zisman. Levin\u2019s rough and tumble no-holds-barred humor, a facility and freedom with language and imagery bordering […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13200","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-theater"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13200","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13200"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13200\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13200"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13200"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.midnighteast.com\/mag\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13200"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}