Review: REQUIEM at Cleveland Public Theatre

Hanoch Levin is considered by many to be the most successful of Israeli playwrights.

REQUIEM, which is now on stage at Cleveland Public Theatre, with support from Cleveland-Israel Arts Connection and the Jack, Joseph and Morton Mandel Foundation, is one of the most well-known of Levin’s plays.  He wrote the script after receiving a diagnosis of terminal cancer. 

The work premiered at the Cameri Theatre of Tel Aviv in 1999 and is the longest running play for adults in Israel.

Based on three short stories by Anton Chekhov, REQUIEM (“ASHKAVA” in Hebrew) was woven by Levin into one story.   As is true of existential plays, yes, Levin, as was Edward Albee, Samuel Becket and Jean-Paul Sartre, a question-asker.  His play asks such questions as why do we exist?, what is the purpose of life?, and what is the best way to live that life?

As perceived by Levin, the tale centers on an elderly couple, a mother trying to save her dying baby, as well as wagon drivers, drunks and prostitutes, all of whom are seeking answers to the reasons for their existence.  Ironically, that is probably the same question that Levin asked himself when he received his death sentence diagnosis.

Shimrit Ron, the Director of the Hanoch Levin Institute of Israeli Drama, in his CPT program notes, indicates that the script has been translated into twenty-seven languages, toured all over the world, yet this is the first production of REQUIEM in the US.  As excited as it is to have a national premiere of an important script, the question as to why has it taken almost 25 years for this masterpiece to land in America, must be asked.

Ron states, regarding this era and this production, “I hope that all the elderly couple, all the mothers who carried their babies and all who have traveled on life’s wagons (including the 134 hostages who were transported in white pickup trucks on October 7 [the date the Hamas terrorists invaded Israel] will return safely to their homes very soon.”

The CPT production, under the adept direction of Raymond Bobgan, the theatre’s Executive Artistic Director, is creatively staged. 

Using the philosophical view that Levin’s “plays spring from a wild imagination and prioritized theatricality over realism,” Bobgan demands the audience use their imaginations to not only understand the play’s inner message, but accept that what is taking place is symbolic, not realistic. 

Bobgan comes to the play well prepared. He travelled to Israeli to research the project and availed himself of the Cleveland Israel Arts Connection and the Cleveland Jewish Community Federation to gain understanding of the playwright, as well as the religious and ethnic foundation on which the script was written.

The cast, headed by Peter Lawson Jones as the Old Man, the fulcrum of the story, is excellent.  It is difficult to create characters whose lines are not always not easily understood by the audience, and which are often symbolic, not literal in meaning.  

Lawson clearly develops a character struggling to understand life and death.  He confronts his wives and his impending death asking questions, getting no answers, yet continuing on.  He is aptly accompanied on the journey by Venetia Whatley, as the Old Lady.

Underlying meanings have been keyed by Ryan Charles Ramer’s original compositions. Catherine Anne Pace’s video scenery help create the proper moods.  Cameron Caley Michalak has created scenery that allows for the breaking of the realistic third wall centering on a center-stage turntable and abstract set pieces.

Capsule judgment:  REQUIEM is a play that is neither easy to understand nor to immediately grasp its meaning.  It takes a while of after-thought and some mulling over what one has just experienced to gain self-awareness.  It is not a play for anyone who goes to the theatre for pure entertainment.  This script and production are not entertaining in the normal sense.  As with all existential theatrical experiences, it takes work to not only sit through the production, but allow yourself time to gain its message.

REQUIEM continues at CPT, in the Gordon Square neighborhood, through April 6, 2024.  For tickets call 216.631.2727 ext. 501 or go to https://www.cptonline.org/get-tickets/

For other Cleveland-Israel Arts Connection activities go to https://www.accessjewishcleveland.org/programs/jewish-federation-of-cleveland-israel-arts-connection/

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