Review - Enemies: A Love Story

I must admit to smirking a bit when, only a few minutes into Israel's Gesher Theater Company's stage adaption of Isaac Bashevis Singer's Enemies: A Love Story, the main character removed his clothing and started soaking in a bathtub, contributing to the odd trend that has hit New York stages in the past couple of seasons of plays and musicals featuring nude (or almost nude or suggested nudity) bathtub scenes. (Bonnie and Clyde, Macbeth, Sleep No More, Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Nance, If There Is I Haven't Found It Yet, Through The Yellow Hour, Nice Work If You Can Get It... Have I missed any?)

Founded in 1991, The Gesher Company was originally made up of a group of actors who migrated from Moscow to Tel Aviv, creating theatre in between missile attacks during the first Gulf War. Their Enemies is making a brief visit to Jazz at Lincoln Center's Rose Theater as part of the Cherry Orchard Festival, and while the cultural exchange is certainly an attraction, several factors contribute to making the evening a bit of a letdown.

Performed in Hebrew (earpieces playing simultaneous translations in English and Russian are available) with a text by Yevgeny Arye (who also directs) and Roee Chen, the story is set in 1949 and revolves around Herman Broder (Israel (Sasha) Demidov), a Polish Holocaust survivor who spent the war in hiding while his servant Yadwiga (Natasha Manor) secretly cared for him. Thinking that his wife and children have been killed by the Nazi's, Herman marries Yadwiga after the war and they move to New York.

While posing as a traveling salesman to his devoted wife, he's actually earning money as a ghost writer for a rabbi (Boris Lempert) and using his time away from home to carry on an affair with fellow survivor Masha (Efrat Ben Zur). When his wife Tamara (Lilian Ruth) shows up, very much alive, things get complicated.

Though it sounds a bit like a French sex farce, the story is quite somberly told. And while the play might possibly be a bit more vibrant in its original Hebrew, the English translation I heard contained a lot of perfunctory, colorless dialogue that simply pushed the surface narrative along. The Rose, built as a music venue, was designed for acoustics rather than intimacy and my seat in row H seemed equivalent to the back of the house in one of the older, traditional Broadway theatres. Coupled with the dim lighting, it was difficult to see the faces of nor feel any connection to the actors during the nearly three hour long production, despite moments where performances were projected live on a large screen.

The Gesher has a fine reputation and I would look forward to seeing one of their future productions in a more appropriate venue.

Photo: Israel (Sasha) Demidov and Efrat Ben Zur.

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"In avant-garde theatre, there's a thin wall between brilliance and nonsense."

-- Seth Christenfeld

The grosses are out for the week ending 6/9/2013 and we've got them all right here in BroadwayWorld.com's grosses section.

Up for the week was: ANNIE (11.2%), MACBETH (7.5%), I'LL EAT YOU LAST: A CHAT WITH SUE MENGERS (5.1%), THE NANCE (4.5%), ONCE (4.3%), PIPPIN (4.1%), ANN (3.5%), CHICAGO (2.4%), ROCK OF AGES (2.1%), THE TRIP TO BOUNTIFUL (2.1%), NEWSIES (1.8%), CINDERELLA (1.4%), LUCKY GUY (0.3%), KINKY BOOTS(0.1%),

Down for the week was: MAMMA MIA! (-7.7%), WICKED (-6.3%), THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA (-6.2%), THE ASSEMBLED PARTIES (-5.6%), NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT (-1.8%), VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE (-1.0%), SPIDER-MAN TURN OFF THE DARK (-0.6%), THE LION KING (-0.2%), JERSEY BOYS (-0.1%),

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