Review: HACHAYAL HARAZE at Cameri Theatre - An Important Theatrical Event

When you walk into a theatre space that has a strong smell of gun powder and see a dead person already lying on the stage you know that you're going to have a special experience for the next few hours.
That's the case with Hanoch Levin's "Hachayal Haraze" (The Thin Soldier).

This production opened at the last Akko Festival and a few months later The Cameri Theatre, which has been the home to many of Levin's plays throughout the years, decided to host this production.

It is indeed a very unique and important theatrical event.

Levin took the plot of the ancient Roman play "Amphytrion" and used its elements to create his story. A soldier named Sosia coming back home from war to his wife and child after 5 years only to find out that his identity was taken by a different person who claims to be Sosia and lives at his home with his wife and child.
As the play goes on we realize that there's much more to it than a simple misunderstanding. There's also a third person claiming to be Sosia.

The play tells us about the importance that people see in having a specific identity and something unique that separates them from others. We realize what happens when a person is starting to question his identity.
It also tells the story of discrimination in our society. The strong humiliates the weak, and the weak humiliates the weaker.

At first these ideas are being dealt with no specific reference. Until one of the characters starts to sing in Arabic and from now on you understand what Tal Brenner the director was trying to add to this play.
She is actually telling us the story of Ashkenzi Jews and Sepharadic Jews that have history of racist relations among themselves, but they're still jews so it enables them to join forces by being against others.
Much like Menachem Begin's famous speech: "Iraqi? Ashkenazi? Jews! Brothers! Fighters!"

There's also the wife who gets humiliated by everyone and she's the last in the food chain. It also tells the story of the misery of mankind when everyone finds someone to discriminate.

But even more than the play itself, Tal Brenner managed to bring this written story to life by using many creative ideas and by understanding what Levin was trying to tell us. Tal Brenner and the entire cast have succeeded in capturing the audience and making them feel what Levin wanted them to feel when he was writing this play.

The entire cast that includes Roy Assaf, Eyal Nachmias, Nina Kotler, Ala Dakka, Lutuf Noisar and Tommy Zur does a tremendous job throughout the entire play and gives us very relatable and authentic characters.

If Hanoch Levin was still alive today I'm sure he would get up from his seat and give a standing ovation for a magnificent job in bringing his words to life.

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