Review - New Jerusalem: A Spoonful of Borscht (Belt) Helps the Medicine Go Down

Unless the painters have been around the past few days, a bit of graffiti on the Classic Stage Company's men's room wall reads, "Good Theatre + Great Coffee + Clean Bathroom = CSC." While the lobby's Everyman Espresso Café and (I would assume) some eager young intern are keeping the latter two parts of that equation accurate, director Walter Bobbie's premiere production of David Ives' New Jerusalem is indeed providing some good theatre.

Surprisingly good, if you consider a playwright most known for quirky wordplay comedies and for adapting the scripts of others and a director most known for peppy musicals may not be the first ones you'd go to for a play whose complete title is New Jerusalem: The Interrogation of Baruch de Spinoza at Talmud Torah Congregation: Amsterdam, July 17, 1656. But this historical courtroom drama involving heresy, betrayal, an inheritance and forbidden young love is presented with a realistic amount of showmanship and humor, including the stray zinger or two, that doesn't compromise the seriousness of the subject. A spoonful of borscht (belt) helps the medicine go down.

Seeing their city as a progressive haven, a new Jerusalem for 17th Century Portuguese Jews escaping persecution, the governors of Amsterdam allowed the Jewish community to freely practIce Their faith under certain terms which prevented any imposition on Christianity. (Among them, making it illegal for a Jew to discuss religion with a Christian.) Spinoza (Jeremy Strong), who as a lad was the beloved star pupil of Amsterdam's Chief Rabbi Saul Levi Mortera (Richard Easton), has grown into a curious free-thinker, as spiritual in nature as anyone in town, but not in the way Jewish nor Christian law dictates. He is ordered to be brought before Jewish congregational leader Gaspar Rodrigues Ben Israel (Fyvush Finkel, good cop) and Christian regent of Amsterdam Abraham van Valkenburgh (David Garrison, bad cop) to determine if he has committed acts punishable by excommunication from the Jewish faith and, as a result, banishment from Amsterdam. As audience members, we are members of the Talmud Torah congregation, there to witness and, in the eyes of Valkenburgh, be warned. (Garrison's subtle glances into the crowd nicely show his character's concern for keeping the sympathy of the masses in check.)

In brief (very brief), Spinoza's ideas, many of which he readily admits are not completely thought out, involve the normal questions of God's existence and form, the predetermination of destiny and the competitiveness of organized religions to be the one that's right. The bulk of the play isn't so much a trial as a 3-on-1 debate, with his prosecutors wishing to reform him more than banish him. Strong is a charmingly earnest Spinoza with a talent for logic that infuriates Garrison's regent, who tries to keep the proceedings orderly. At one point Spinoza asks if the entire interrogation is illegal since he's not allowed to speak of religion with Christians.

Finkel is once again playing the kind of gently humorous old world character, with a sturdy backbone built on centuries of faith, that he does so well, but it's Easton who admirable provides the emotional weight of the evening as the mentor who looks in adoring wonder at what a gifted and honorable man his student has become; his joy at odds with his responsibility to silence the lad's troublesome thoughts.

Also involved are the accused's best friend and roommate, Simon (Michael Izquierdo), and Clara (Natalia Payne), a young Christian. Though by law, Clara and Spinoza may never marry nor have any kind of physical relations, the two love each other and are willing to cherish that love for its own sake. Jenn Harris, a gifted comic performer, appears as Spinoza's loud and shrewish half-sister, Rebekah, a role that, though no fault of the actress, comes off too much as broad comic relief that doesn't fit well into the rest of the production.

The visuals are simple, but first rate, with John Lee Beatty's set dominated by an imposingly large wooden table and Anita Yavich's costumes, Ken Billington's lights and the work of Acme Sound Partners embellishing the austere mood of the proceedings.

Without giving away the ending, though a quick Google would do the trick, the play's main disappointment is how certain characters change too abruptly while others, who could stand to bend a little in order to make things interesting, remain constant. Still, New Jerusalem remains an entertaining drama of words and ideas. Trust me. I've seen the writing on the wall.

Photo of David Garrison, Richard Easton and Fyvush Finkel by Joan Marcus