Chamber Made Presents The Premiere Of DYBBUKS

Chamber Made presents the premiere of Dybbuks - Samara Hersch's re-visioning of S. Ansky's iconic Yiddish story (The Dybbuk) created for two performers, a vocalist, three musicians and a choir of intergenerational Yiddish speaking women.

Dybbuks is part performance, part concert and part exorcism that combines mythic stories and traditional Yiddish songs with contemporary composition.

Through a staged ritual inspired by an exorcism featuring ecstatic song and music, Dybbuks foregrounds female voices that are often sidelined from hosting public ceremony in a Judeo- Christian religious context.

Inspired by her Jewish Ashkenazi heritage, Dybbuks is conceived and directed by theatre maker Samara Hersch who explains that in Yiddish mythology dybbuks are the unresolved souls who seek to find form through living bodies.

Dybbuks emphasises the intersections between Jewish culture and contemporary feminism - Hersch explains, "I feel a responsibility as a Jewish woman to engage not just with the nostalgia of Yiddish language, culture and song, but also with the vitality and relevance that it can offer contemporary society."

"When I discovered The Dybbuk by S. Ansky, I was struck by the idea of the dead speaking through the female body. I want to examine the notion of the female body as a site that, throughout history, has embodied memory, desire and language. Similarly, I am interested in how the possessed female body, via its potency and power, can be a symbol of resistance to patriarchal control," said Hersch.

Actor and academic Yoni Prior (Homicide and Prisoner Cell Block-H) will feature in Dybbuks and also featured in Barrie Kosky's seminal 1993 production of S. Ansky's original play.

Dybbuks continues Chamber Made's commitment to creating new works at the nexus of performance, sound and music.

"We are excited to be collaborating with Samara, one of Melbourne's most dynamic theatre makers, who is creating politically and socially engaged work with diverse communities," said Chamber Made Artistic Director Tamara Saulwick.

Tickets $37 - $45 | $33 Preview | $15 Student Rush
Bookings www.chambermade.org
Theatre Works Booking Line: 9534 3388

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