CriticalActs Dubbing the Dead Der 1937–2017 at the Jerusalem YMCA Hall

Zehavit Stern

We are at the YMCA concert hall in Jerusalem, tor, Ido Shpitalnik. The group is known for a beautiful auditorium in the neo-Moorish playing in public spaces and alternative ven- style, built between the years 1928 and 1933. ues, striving to expose new audiences to clas- Hand-painted geometric patterns and flower sical music. For the time being, though, only motifs decorate the enormous dome dominat- a single clarinet and a single violin are play- ing the space and the impressive proscenium ing an enchanting Hasidic melody, accompa- arch framing the stage. On a large screen, nied by a faint humming sound, the source aligned with the burgundy velvet curtain that of which is unclear; is it the film’s soundtrack marks the borderline between the stage and or the live performers? Towards the front of the apron, we watch the first few shots from the stage, distributed between its two sides, Michał Waszyn;ski’s 1937 Polish- film are five additional performers, all in elegant Der dibuk (), the first and most black-and-white attire that seems to corre- renowned cinematic adaptation of the highly spond with the black-and-white 80-year-old acclaimed play created in the years 1913 to film. These five lend the show their voices and 1917 by the Russian Jewish writer S. An-sky.1 manipulate objects to make sound effects, and We watch a group of Hasidim gathered around will later be joined by an operatic singer in a their (Hasidic ), swaying and sing- bright red dress. For the time being, however, ing wholeheartedly a solemn Hasidic tune. they simply stand there, humming softly, we What we see is a cinematic remake of a tish now realize, without moving their lips, as do (from tish, table in Yiddish), a Hasidic ritual in the musicians. While we, the audience, let our- which the Hasidim gather around their rebbe selves be immersed in the humming, we also and share food, listen to lengthy speeches on wonder what to expect of this performance. the Torah, sing (often wordless melodies), and Is this intended as an homage to the classical sometimes also dance ecstatically. Below the Yiddish film, and to the most famous of Jewish screen is the Jerusalem Street Orchestra, a plays?2 Is it an ironic takeoff on the traditional, group of 28 young players and their conduc- remote world depicted on screen? A provoca-

1. Already in the 1920s, the play was being produced in Yiddish, Hebrew, German, English, and French. On the play and its playwright see Safran and Zipperstein (2006), Steinlauf (2010), and Safran (2010). 2. While An-sky wrote the play in Russian and Yiddish, The Dybbuk’s Hebrew translation, done as early as 1918 by H.N. Bialik, the Hebrew “national poet,” gained iconic status, as did ’s 1922 production for the Ha-bima Hebrew theatre, which became the company’s flagship for decades thereafter. The Dybbuk thus doubles as the most famous Yiddish and the most famous Hebrew play.

Zehavit Stern is a researcher of Yiddish film, theatre, folklore, and Hebrew and currently teaching at Ben-Gurion University of the Negev, Israel. Previously she was the Hasse Fellow in Eastern European Jewish Civilization and a Research Lecturer at the University of Oxford (2010–2015). She holds an MA in Yiddish Culture from the Hebrew University (2005) and a PhD in Jewish Studies, with a designated emphasis in Film Studies, from the University of California, Berkeley, and the Graduate Theological Union (2011). [email protected]

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- 3 - - culture. Upon hearing the first few words many bottom of the screen (only the film’s opening bottom of the screen (only the film’s opening including credits for the and ending subtitles, remain in the original Polish). filmmakers, in the audience burst out laughing, although in the audience burst out laughing, spo nothing is particularly funny in the words rassing, or even disconcerting, to hear Yiddish Yiddish to hear or even disconcerting, rassing, in the 21st century; it is a language associ and ulti a lost world, ated with otherness, as Perhaps it feels mately also with death. the if a mummy has escaped from its crypt, mummy being the historical film and the possi it is still True, itself. language Yiddish in Jerusalem these days, Yiddish ble to hear spoken by ultra-Orthodox Jews who use it to express and strengthen their independence from mainstream Zionist Hebrew ­ ken, which are taken directly from the orig ken, nor in the way they are vocalized inal film, do so many people then, Why, and acted. embar laugh? It may be that it is hilarious, - , by Adi Kaplan and Shahar Carmel, and the Sala- Der Dybbuk 1937–2017, by Adi Kaplan and Shahar Carmel, and the

While we have scarcely begun to ponder While we have scarcely begun to ponder On Yiddish among ultra-Orthodox Jews and the effort to retain this language and battle the dominance of main- among ultra-Orthodox Jews On Yiddish stream Hebrew (in Israel) or English (in the United States), see Dalit Assouline (2017). 3. these questions, the spiritual ceremony of the these questions, and the camera focuses on tish comes to end, warmly embracing each two young Hasidim, When one of them opens his mouth, other. live dubbing begins: the actors at the front of the stage pronounce the exact words said in a process that might be by the film actors, live sound in which “reverse lip-syncing,” called replaces recorded sound (here: the movie’s rather than the other way around, soundtrack), While in com- as in the common playback. mon playback live performers rely on recorded in tonight’s sound as a convenient shortcut, on the performers insist “reverse lip-syncing” live reproduction of techno- “superfluous” the the voices (and i.e., logically produced sounds, music) already given in the film and translated into English and Hebrew in subtitles on the

sion and ? tive appropriation of a gothic fable of posses Figure 1. From left: Lea Mauas and Diego Rotman, The Jerusalem Street Orchestra (behind), and Ayu The Jerusalem Street Orchestra (behind), and Ayu Figure 1. From left: Lea Mauas and Diego Rotman, The End in Polish) from the film Der dibuk, 1937, Rotman-Mauas. Onscreen: end frame (“Koniec,” ;ski. directed by Michał Waszyn 2017. (Photo by Andriy Malakhovskyy) Manca Group. Jerusalem YMCA, November Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_a_00841 by guest on 26 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_a_00841 by guest on26 September 2021 160 Critical Acts reiterates theexactwordsoforiginalfilm, formed hereissuperfluous, bothbecauseit in practicaltermsthe Yiddish dubbingper guage presentonstageandinrealtime. True, tion ofthediasporabymakingsilencedlan- heart ofJerusalemreversestheZionistnega- this performanceoflive Yiddish dubbinginthe guage, Yiddish. Now, on 22November2017, European Jewishdiasporaanditsinfamouslan- rooted intheZionistnegationofEastern into Hebrewwasaclearideologicalstatement, Back then, dubbingthisrenowned Yiddish film much It is

imagine suchapossibility. “revive” the Yiddish language, oratleast to Don Quixoticgesture, adesperateattemptto in interwar “talkie”? The ostensiblyfutileact translates oradapts, thewordsutteredinthis Yiddish dubbingthatremakes, ratherthan Argentinian andIsraeliaccents. vivid voicesoftheactorsonstage, withhintsof Eastern Europeanlocations, whilehearingthe dibuk, filmedinblackandwhitepicturesque of Waszynactors ;ski’s Polish-Yiddish Der It mightalsofeeloddtoviewthelongdead with theultra-Orthodox, orwithold­ ically conservativeimageof Yiddish, associated well-known artists ulated bysecular, hip, politicallyinvolved, and with orwithoutHebrewEnglishsubtitles). dubbed intoHebrew(ratherthanin Yiddish world), majority ofJewslivinginPalestine(andthe when Yiddish wasthemothertongueof ical screenings. Paradoxically, backin1938, better understoodinlightofthefilm’shistor the alreadyobsoletechivalricnorms, maybe less audaciousthanDonQuixote’sholdingto 6. 5. 4. Der Dybbuk1937–2017feelslikeaheroic, On Benjamin’s ideaof auratic“distance”seeBenjamin([1955] 1969a)andKaufman(2002). Yiddish. ArticlesfromDavar people fromhearingaforbiddenlanguage. ThisnodoubthastodowiththelanguagewardeclaredbyZionistson language mostwidelyspokenandunderstood amongPalestine’s Jewishpopulationwasdubbed 1938:4). Interestingly, whilefilmsinEnglishandFrenchwereoften screenedwithsubtitles,afilmproducedinthe praises thechoicetousedubbing(rather thansubtitles)forthisfilm,referringtoitasamajor“revolution”(A.F. language” (MigdalorCinema1938),and inareviewpublishedthesamenewspaperreviewer(signedA.F.) An adinthedailyDavarproudlypronounceddubbedversion ofthefilm“agreatvictoryforHebrew the playortoits1937cinematicadaptation),butrefer2017performance byitsgiventitle. and theEnglishone(TheDybbuk).ThroughoutarticleIusecommonYiddish transliteration (whenreferringto The performance’s title,DerDybbuk1937–2017,isasomewhatoddmixtureoftheYiddish transliteration(derdibuk), What arewethentomakeofthislive Der dibukwasscreenedinPalestine stranger, however, tohearitartic- — quite oppositeofthetyp- 4 can befoundathttp://jpress.org.il. This gesture, no people. - - 5

of technicalreproducibility. tures towardstheaura, typicallylostintheage between artandlife, orperhapsmerelyges- the chargedawarenessofanineffaceablegap Benjamin’s terms, theauratic “distance,” i.e., reverse lip-syncingrecreates, touse Walter vivid thanever. At thesametime, however, the famous dramabecomesmoreentertainingand music, soundeffects, anddialogue, An-sky’s temporary sensibilities;accompaniedbylive for from 2hoursto50minutes, Derdibukscreened nal possessionstory. Reeditedandshortened rather thanviceversa, asintheplay’sorigi- allow, perhaps, thelivingtopossessdead, the petrifiedobjectofhistoricalfilm;to choice: tovoiceasilencedlanguage;enliven ing, markingitaradicalpoliticalandaesthetic tonight’s performancewithasymbolicmean- Yet, itisexactlythisredundancythatendows would relyontheHebreworEnglishsubtitles. stand Yiddish (orunderstandsonlyalittle), and and sincemostoftheaudiencedoesnotunder Nisn hadpromisedtomarrytheirunborn father SenderandKhonen’slong-dead Khonen’s lovetobepredestined, sinceLeye’s exorcism ritualthatfollowsrevealsLeyeand “dybbuk,” apossessingspirit. Intheplay, the emony, KhonenreturnstoLeye’sbodyasa Then, inthemidstofLeye’sweddingcer magic, whichultimatelyleadstohisdeath. ter, KhonendesperatelyturnstoKabbalistic arranges amoresuitablematchforhisdaugh- with eachother. When Sender, Leye’sfather, study ofJewishreligioustexts, whofallinlove and Khonen, apoororphandedicatedtothe story ofLeye, thedaughterofarichmerchant, century ago, withyetanotherlayerofmeaning. this classicdramaofloveanddeath, createda An-sky’s dramaofamourfounarratesthe Der Dybbuk1937–2017bettersuitscon- 6 Itthusendows — as iftoprevent - - Critical Acts 161 are — not only Yiddish Yiddish not only — the two men whose bond — The impressive space of the YMCA hall, YMCA hall, The impressive space of the and its emotional and political reverberations, and its emotional and political reverberations, patiently but also magnificent sound effects, created and meticulously synchronized by the Foley artists (who rely on simple means, context of contemporary art, has come to haunt context of contemporary art, on The credits that appear now the audience. another language the screen introduce Polish, evoking the memory of Zionism’s rejected New credits Eastern European Jewish diaspora. for the editors and performers of Der Dybbuk 1937–2017 — the Sala-Manca group, Adi the Jerusalem Street Shahar Carmel, Kaplan, Ann Elizabeth and the singer Orchestra, which seats 600 and is almost entirely sold out, is now filled with sounds seamlessly inserted into the old ones, using the seamlessly inserted into the old ones, as and the same design, same language (Polish), if to warn us: beware of manipulation! Der Dybbuk 1937–2017, by Adi Kaplan and Shahar - These spirits and 7

;ski. Der dibuk, 1937, directed by Michał Waszyn has the force of fate and the young boy and girl who reenact the love of their fathers. The heterosexual love affair/­ has the force of fate and the young boy and girl who reenact the love of their fathers. The heterosexual but the key to understanding its otherworldly power lies in the homoerotic friendship possession is at stage center, that refuses to remain relegated to the past or to the background” (2003:233). As Naomi Seidman argues, “The Dybbuk presents not one, but two pairs of lovers 7. , which lie at the heart of An-sky’s curi- which lie at the heart of ghosts, are over Thanatos, ous amalgam of Eros and shadowed in this performance by other deaths, other demons: those of the culture destroyed by the Nazi genocide and of the language so The diasporic lan- fiercely rejected by Zionism. whose very associated with the dead, guage, in this especially sound is strange and puzzling,

children to each other. In the film, this back- film, In the ­children to each other. thus ground story is moved to the opening and rather than as a secret serves as exposition, In both the play and its cinematic revealed. Der dibuk is a story in however, adaptation, to which not one but two of the dead return the trouble the living: a dead lover takes over while another body (or ) of his beloved, conjured up in an exorcism dead person (Nisn), returns to demand a debt from his soul- ritual, or first love (Sender). mate, Figure 2. From left: The Jerusalem Street Orchestra (behind), Ayu Rotman-Mauas, Adi Kaplan, and Shahar Rotman-Mauas, (behind), Ayu Figure 2. From left: The Jerusalem Street Orchestra (Khonen) looking at Lili Liliana (Leye, lying prostrate) in the Carmel (Foley artists). Onscreen: Leon Liebgold film Carmel, and the Sala-Manca Group. Jerusalem YMCA, November 2017. (Photo by Andriy Malakhovskyy) Carmel, and the Sala-Manca Group. Jerusalem Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_a_00841 by guest on 26 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_a_00841 by guest on26 September 2021 162 Critical Acts nationalism anditsfascinationwithfolklore well. ItalsoconveysthespiritofEuropean moments andthussuitsthismelodramaticfilm is abundantwithfolkmotifsanddramatic tic piece, composedbetween1874and1879, the Homeland), especiallyitssecondmovement, Ma Vlast(My symphonic poemsknownas consists mainlyofBedr=ichSmetana’sset Hasidic music. Instead, therevisedsoundtrack through CantorialsingingandKlezmer Kon), whichflaunteditsJewishcharacter tle fromtheoriginal(composedbyHenekh replacing therecordedone, borrowsonlyalit- tles anyway. The film’snewlivesoundtrack, since mostoftheaudiencerelyonsubti- doesn’t affecttheaudience’sunderstanding, it impedesourabilitytoheartheactors. This ful, dramaticmusic, attimessoturbulentthat such aspaper, nylon, andwater), andbeauti- from thenon-Jewishworld?Isthisacomment nity untouchedbymodernityandwalledoff depicts an18th-centuryreligiouscommu- intervention in An-sky’s diasporicmyth, which domineering music. interfering inthepastthroughenchantingyet the present, butalsothepresentforcefully the audience. Itisnotonlythepastthathaunts if the “Vltava,” thatisHa-Tikva, forcesitselfon effect isrepetitive, persistent, evencoercive, as melody isplayedoverandagain. The multiplied inthisperformance, sinceSmetana’s the openingandthreeinpiece’sfinale), is repeated seventimesinthe “Vltava” (fourin Ha-Tikva (TheHope). This shortmotif, greatly resemblestheIsraelinationalanthem, sen foranotherreason:itsmainmusicalmotif and especiallythe “Vltava,” wasclearlycho- his findingsintoaworkofart. Yet MaVlast, cated ethnographerwhostrovetotransform a zeitgeistalsoabsorbedby An-sky, adedi- 8. How arewetounderstandthisZionist Adorno [1997:171, 173, 233]). (Ästhetische Theorie),yetshapesalso otherworkssuchas“TheEssayForm”(seeKaufman[2010:214];see also “constellation” isalsoakeynotionin AdornothatappearsmostexplicitlyinAdorno’s unfinishedAestheticTheory in artworksanyaestheticgenreorform thatchallengeaestheticnormsandacceptedtruths.AsKaufmanshows, to visualstructures,suchastheEisensteinian montageorthecubistcollage),itseekstodepictwhatmaybecreated [1998:34]). Whilethemetaphorof“constellation” originatesintheclustersofstars(andisoftenemployedrelation Trauerspiels; 1928)Benjaminfamouslywrites: “Ideasaretoobjectsasconstellationsstars”(seeBenjamin Benjamin’s “Epistemo-criticalPrologue” to hisstudyTheOriginofGermanTragic Drama(Ursprungdesdeutschen On theterm“constellation”inBenjaminandAdorno,seeMartinJay(1993) andRobertKaufman(2010).In Vltava (TheMoldau). Smetana’sroman- —

very presentmomentandplace. together inawaythatisacutelyrelevanttothis of coursethereeditedfilm, areconstellated effects performedatthefrontofstage, and music, thegesticactoflivedubbingandsound critic fortheNewYork Times, founditasodd all thepresswasgood;FrankNugent, film most successful Yiddish filmsever. Notthat speaking audiences, anditbecameoneofthe allure, evenamongnon-Jewishornon-Yiddish- acclaim nodoubtcontributedtothefilm’s atres aroundtheglobe. The play’sworldwide German, andEnglishbyavarietyofartthe- had alreadybeenproducedin Yiddish, Hebrew, Waszyn;ski’s ers ofhistoricalsignificance. By1937, theyear to afilmalreadyburdenedwithnumerouslay- contemporary, theworkaddsnewmeanings between pastandpresent, thetimelessand to uncoveracompletelynewmeaning. sition ofdifferentelementsthatenablesone or a “configuration”: theheuristicjuxtapo- Theodor W.a “constellation”termed Adorno sense thatweexperiencewhatBenjaminand merizing romantic-macabretale. Itisinthis Smetana’s captivatingmusicandinthismes- the airwhileweletourselvesbeimmersedin endanger itshost? All thesequestionshoverin or doesthediasporicdybbuk, likeKhonen, uge, asolutionforstatelessghostlyexistence, being heard?IscontemporaryIsraelasaferef- which otherOthers, suchas Arabic, arealso within IsraeliHebrew, possiblyavoicethrough diaspora? Is Yiddish asubversivehiddenvoice guage, ofthedemolishedEasternEuropean culture possessedbythedybbukoflostlan- 19th-century Europeannationalisms?IsIsraeli also thebirthplaceofthisideology, rootedin pora isnotonlyZionism’srejectedOther, but a reminderthattheEasternEuropeandias- on theIsraelianthemandIsraelatlarge, In constructingsuchcomplexrelations Der dibukwasshot, An-sky’s play 8 The Critical Acts 163 - - - - This is, This is, 10 the obsolete — Significantly, the performance does inter the Significantly, form her death [...,] to enter the archive. Lea form her death [...,] to enter the archive. [Leye] comes back from the past to remain to dance with the living.” present, sion the flame flickers, dies, and then returns and then dies, sion the flame flickers, Leye, This subtle change suggests that to life. remain and thus also Khonen’s soul within her, scholar a In the words of Diego Rotman, alive. and one of the per and theatre, Yiddish of “to per formance’s creators: Leye refuses - more harmo film feel smoother, makes the may have his- mostly cuts out what and nized, boring for too long and possibly torically been edited version the Consequently, audiences. view- the taste of contemporary complements and is indeed to a faster pace ers accustomed quite entertaining. namely the film’s clos- vene in one key place, Whereas in the candle. ing image: a burning candle flickers and then dies, the original film, in the reedited ver symbolizing Leye’s death, film, the destroyed culture, and the defeated the destroyed culture, film, perhaps, what this performance is about in what this performance is about perhaps, a nutshell: bringing the dead Figure 3. From left: Ayu Rotman-Mauas, Adi Kaplan, and Shahar Carmel Figure 3. From left: Ayu (Foley artists). Der Dybbuk 1937–2017, by Adi Kaplan and Shahar Carmel, November 2017. (Photo by and the Sala-Manca Group. Jerusalem YMCA, Andriy Malakhovskyy) its rich profusion of ethnog- its rich profusion —

Indeed, several scholars Indeed, 9

For further consideration of the play’s and the film’s ethnographic spectacle and the film’s iconic position in ethnographic spectacle and the film’s and the film’s For further consideration of the play’s contemporary culture, see Stern (2011). many interesting article offers see Rotman (forthcoming). Rotman’s interpretation of the show, For Diego Rotman’s insights and a glimpse into the creative process behind this performance. The symbolic role of the 1937 9. 10.

“as a documentary film of life among the pyg- film of life “as a documentary (1938). Ages” to the Middle mies or a trip bias, this critic’s anti-Semitic Notwithstanding characteris - rightly points to a key his review tic of the film to aestheticize his An-sky sought While raphy. the film based on his ethnographic findings, such as materials, play popularized folkloristic and rites magic, Kabbalistic Hasidic folktales, them into a con- transforming of exorcism, . mysticism and Yiddishkeit sumable spectacle of the film offers a mystical for example, Thus, psychologi- (rather than social or the dybbuk, cal) interpretation of Jewish and presents an elaborate from the absent wedding scene, abundance, This ethnographic play. which in 1938 struck the New York - critic as bizarre and repel Times seems to be a significant factor lant, in the film’s contemporary appeal, and makes it well-suited to serve commemo- as a site of memory, rating the destruction of Eastern The film’s European . and the fact macabre tones, dark, that it was made only two years War World before the onset of the contributes to its memorializing II, position. film in contemporary culture is no doubt a cru- film in contemporary culture is no doubt cial factor for shedding light on the current perhaps impossi- While it is hard, iteration. to nail down Der Dybbuk 1937–2017 to any ble, remains one thing specific political ideology, clear: this performance is a gesture of revival. The film’s multilayered ethnographic display, by Ages” “a trip to the Middle experienced as by oth- and as a source of national pride some, is revived in this performance ers (Kon 1937), and live music, not only through live dubbing, which but also by way of editing, live Foley art, have gone as far as referring to this a Jewish prayer work as a , for the dead. Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_a_00841 by guest on 26 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_a_00841 by guest on26 September 2021 164 Critical Acts for peoplewithleprosy), wheretheyapplied Jerusalem HansenHouse(formerlyanasylum a shortmockumentaryonthehistoryof thetic appropriationinHeim(Home;2014), tackled questionsofdocumentationandaes- by theIsraelMuseum. a 19th-centurysukkahfromGermanyowned (2017), theybuiltanunauthorizedreplicaof In anotherwork, titledAbsenteeLandscapes Technology, reclaimingitasaJewishsukkah. it attheHansenHouseCenterforDesignand gal Bedouinshantyandcarefullyreassembled based Sala-Mancagrouppurchasedanille- Sukkah Project(2014 Foley artists. Carmel, graphicartists, writers, filmeditorsand and newmedia; Adi KaplanandShahar the fieldsofperformance, video, installation, (Diego RotmanandLeaMauas), workingin have longengaged:boththeSala-Mancagroup mance (andapparentatthefrontofstage) tidisciplinary artistduosinvolvedinthisperfor plagiarism arematterswithwhichthetwomul- erty) anddispossession, documentationand acts. Copying, possession(inthesenseofprop- avoiding theviolencetypicalofappropriative remake, morethanamerehomageandyet of therelationsbetweenoriginalandits receded. This workishardtoclassifyinterms has comedownandtheaudience’sapplause ertheless leftunansweredlongafterthescreen sion behindthework, manyquestionsarenev- an acutesenseofloss. and thatofthecurrentperformance, evoking gap betweenthecontextoforiginalfilm ever, thegesticrevivalultimatelyenhances Yiddish culturalcontinuity.” Inmyview, how- long deadactors, andasa “possible wayfor laboration withthedead” involvingthefilm’s defines this “ghostedperformance” asa “col- ture of “revival” ultimatelymean?Rotman ­language 13. 12. 11. Acknowledging thebasiclife/deathten- haunted byaJewish past. A notableexampleisKrzysztofWarlikowski’s production forTRWarszawa (2008),whichpresentedPolishcultureas For furtherinformationontheSala-Manca seetheirwebsitehttp://sala-manca.net. see: https://www.editionpatrickfrey.com/en/books/diary-lev-afor-adi-kaplan-shahar-carmel. 1992 to1996.Theirworksareheldin severalprivatecollectionsinIsraelandabroad.Fortheirlatestgraphicnovel Aviv andregularlyexhibittheirworkinIsrael.Theybothstudiedpainting atTel Aviv’s KalisherArtAcademyfrom Adi Kaplan(b.1967,EinHahoreshKibbutz, Israel)andShaharCarmel(b.1958,Tel Aviv, Israel)livetogetherinTel — back to life. Yet whatdoesthisges- 11 The Eternal IntheirinstallationTheEternal –2015), theJerusalem- 12 KaplanandCarmel - many previousproductionshavechosentodo. single allegoricalinterpretationonDerdibukas and historicity, theyrefrainfromprojectingany Destabilizing pregivennotionsofauthenticity evoke questionsratherthanprovideanswers. in found footage. Inalltheseworks, aswell a pseudo-historicalnarration(inGerman)to arresting ways” (1993:1). as wellreconfigurethedebrisinnewand Martin Jay’swords, to “shatter receivedwisdom stitutes aconstructiveintervention, seeking, in loristics, andtheIsraelinationalanthem, con- 19th-century Europeannationalismandfolk- constellating Western romanticclassicalmusic, ture. Similarly, thelivemusicalaccompaniment, destruction ofEasternEuropeanJewishcul- namely theNazigenocideandcatastrophic ality penetratethehistoricalstateofaffairs, operatic gestureofrevival, theactorsletactu- “reverse lip-syncing,” asubtleandyetalso present intervenesinthepast. Bywayoftheir Der dibuk, inducingaforcefieldinwhichthe an alternative, Benjaminianinterpretationof sion oftheliving, DerDybbuk1937–2017offers the playportrayshowdeadtakeposses- embodied andspiritualpenetration. Whereas tral metaphorofDerdibuk:possession, asboth etrating actualitybringstomindthecen- Benjaminian suggestivemetaphorofapen- trated byactuality” (Benjamin1989:60). The torical stateofaffairsbecomeswhen “pene- the “force field” (Kraftfeld), whichiswhatahis- another importantBenjaminiannotion, thatof The term “constellation” iscloselyrelatedto ent, theoriginalanditsremake, lifeanddeath. native wayofconstellatingpastandpres- Kaplan, Carmel, andSala-Mancaofferanalter Through theiropen-endedgestureofrevival, as anindex, amaterialtracephysicallycon- discusses thedoublenatureofphotograph the MovingImage, filmscholarLauraMulvey Der Dybbuk1937–2017, theartiststendto In herworkDeath24xaSecond:Stillnessand 13 -

Critical Acts 165 , 7 January:7. , Davar Literarishe Bleter 30:485. Literarishe Multilingual Community: Yiddish and Hebrew among Hebrew and Yiddish Community: Multilingual Berlin; Boston: De Gruyter . the Ultra-Orthodox Mouton. Richard Howard. Trans. . Photography Reflections on Hill and Wang. New York: [“Ontologie de l’image Photographic Image” 1, In What Is Cinema? Vol. photographique”]. Berkeley: University of 9–16. Gray, Hugh trans. California Press. In of Mechanical Reproduction.” Age in the Harry trans. Arendt, Hannah ed. Illuminations, Books. Schocken York: New 217–51. Zohn, , ed. In Illuminations Philosophy of History.” 253–364. Harry Zohn, trans. Arendt, Hannah Schocken Books. York: New In Benjamin: Theory of Progress].” Knowledge, Gary Smith, ed. Aesthetics, History, Philosophy, Press. Chicago: University of Chicago 43–83. , Drama Tragic In The Origin of German Prologue.” Verso. York: New 27–56. John Osborne, trans. London: Routledge. Critique. History and Cultural 99:45–80. 1, Modernist Cultures Poetry’s Radical Privilege.” 2:209–34. Atelier). Advertisement. Der Dibuk.” London: Reaktion Books. . the Moving Image , Times The ‘The Dybbuk.’” New York a Film of www Accessed 17 January 2018. 28 January. .nytimes.com/1938/01/28/archives/the-screen-the -continental-brings-in-a-film-of-the-dybbuknew .html. in the About Possession and Nationalism Dead: In Yiddish Old-New Film Der Dybbuk 1937–2017.” Rebecca Margolis. ed. in the New Millennium, State University Press. Wayne MI: Detroit, Camera Lucida: Camera (1981) 1993. Roland. Barthes, “The Ontology of the (1967) 2005. André. Bazin, of Art “The Work (1955) 1969a. Walter. Benjamin, “Theses on the (1955) 1969b. Walter. Benjamin, Theory of “N [Re the 1989. Walter. Benjamin, “Epistemo-Critical 1998. Walter. Benjamin, Intellectual Between Field: Force 1993. Martin. Jay, October Still.” “Aura, 2002. Robert. Kaufman, Constellation, “Lyric’s 2005. Robert. Kaufman, (In a Film “In film-atelye” 1937. Henekh. Kon, “The Great Hebrew Film 1938. Migdalor Cinema. Death 24x a Second: Stillness and 2006. Laura. Mulvey, “The Continental Brings in 1938. Frank S. Nugent, “Dancing with the forthcoming. Diego. Rotman, Contact and Ideology in a Contact and 2017. Dalit. Assouline, –66). A –66). –56), rooted not in –56), Aesthetic Theory. Ed. , Mulvey exposes the Mulvey exposes the Lucida, Camera

Der dibuk is nevertheless strongly rooted

the screening of The Dybbuk in Hebrew at , Davar (Hebrew). The Lighthouse Cinema” 18 January:4. Minneapolis: Robert Hullot-Kentor. and trans. University of Minnesota Press. References To Cinema in Hebrew? “Towards 1938. A.F. 1997. Theodor W. Adorno, in these two aspects of the photograph: the in these two aspects of the photograph: the A material trace of the index and the uncanny. so Eastern European Jewish culture destroyed the film also evokes shortly after its making, rooted in our knowing that uncanny feelings, not only that of the story- the world onscreen, actors, line but also that of the filmmakers and By turning this film into a live is tragically lost. performance through live music and sound all, and above interventional editing, effects, - through the ostensibly futile act of live dub reiterating the exact words of the original bing, this work offers a third way of engag- film, which is neither Barthes’s div- ing with death, nor Bazin’s spiritual or divine ing into death, Rather than embalming the transcendence. it dead (the origins of art according to Bazin), to use or rather, endows them with an afterlife, “weak mes- with a Benjamin’s words, Walter (1968b:254 sianic power” in human empa- but rather, a religious belief, and in the desire thy (Einfühlung) and sadness, give voice to those who are to resist the victor, and thus brush history against stepped over, the grain. fictional film rather than a photograph, the than a photograph, fictional film rather 1937 nected to a reality, and yet also as the uncanny, also as the uncanny, and yet reality, nected to a the presence, between absence and oscillating and death; life the inanimate, animate and “that rather words: in Roland Barthes’s or, photo- that is there in every terrible thing ([1981] 1993:9). return of the dead” graph: the “The Ontology of the André Bazin’s Reading ([1967] 2005) alongside Photographic Image” Barthes’s the two French thinkers great affinity between a significant difference while also highlighting photography for Bazin, between them: whereas Mulvey relates to his transcends death (which for Barthes, after death), Catholic belief in life us dive into death and the photograph helps 2006:54 to accept mortality (Mulvey Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_a_00841 by guest on 26 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_a_00841 by guest on26 September 2021 166 Critical Acts work ofuniversalrights, derivedfromhistorical lum seekers. “Israel” speakswithinaframe- UN Assembly assingularlyconcernedwithasy- stage imageandtextpositionIsraelatthe1951 Seidman, Naomi. 2003. “The GhostofQueer Safran, Gabriella, andStevenJ. Zipperstein, eds. Safran, Gabriella. 2010. Wandering Soul: The Dybbuk’s Festival, artsliteracy, andcreativeengagements [email protected] a conflictcontext.Currentresearch exploresorganizationalcultureattheOregonShakespeare Middle East(Palgrave,2009)sheconsiders howTheatreoftheOppressedhasbeenadaptedwithin Based Theater(SIUPress,2003).In Theatre, FacilitationandNation Formation widely oncommunity-basedtheatre includingStagingAmerica:Cornerstone and Community- Sonja ArshamKuftinecisProfessorofTheatreattheUniversity ofMinnesota.Shehaspublished ilized worldtogiveasylumrefugees.” must definethedutyofcountriesciv- in theHolocaustmustnothappenagain. We Hebrew: “What happenedtotheJewishpeople flags. Theyoungman(DoronLev)assertsin ing him, askepticalmassbearsmulticolored stage, ayoungmanholdsanIsraeliflag;fac- day inMarch2018. Ononesideofthesparse in Telmate TmunaTheatre sunny a Avivon The momentiselectric. Iamsittingintheinti- Sonja ArshamKuftinec Performing RefugeesinIsrael Holot LegislativeTheatre 1. is derivedfromHa’aretz Eylam Murvitz,andShaharitYerushalmi, withpropsdesigner KineretKish.Backgroundontheproject’s development Goldenberg, FrezgiHabte,Yehshulu Hagos,DoronLev, RoniLevanon,NuraldinMussa,LiatShabtai,OmadShakur, include: Tamar Alon,AbrahamArada, Awet Asheber, Yonatan Astifanus,Barkat,MayaBuenos,Germai,Rotem scene excerptedfromaplaybyIsraeliauthorHanochLevine.Actorscredited withcreatingtheproductionIattended heightened documentaryscenes,citationsfromtheUNRefugeeConvention, and(intheproductionthatIsaw)one asylum seekersandJewishIsraeliallieswithdirectorsChenAlonAvi Mograbi.Thetextincludestheatrically All quotationsarefromtheHLT company’s Englishtranslationoftextcollaborativelydevisedbytheensemble Columbia UniversityPress. Itzkovitz, and Ann Pellegrini, 228– the Jewish Question, eds. DanielBoyarin, Daniel Transformation of Ashkenaz.”and InQueerTheory Loves Past: Ansky’s ‘Dybbuk’ andtheSexual CA: StanfordUniversityPress. Intellectual atthe Turn. oftheCentury Stanford, 2006. University Press. Creator,S. An-sky . Cambridge, MA:Harvard The Worlds ofS. An-sky: A Russian Jewish articles andinterviewswithChenAlonon18March2018. 45. New York: 1 The of Technology ©2019 New York University and the Massachusetts Institute TDR: The Drama Review 63:2 (T242) Summer 2019. Stern, Zehavit. 2011. “Cinema asSiteofMemory: Steinlauf, MichaelC. 2010. “The Dybbuk.” TheYIVO “uncivilized” realm. Jewish experience, yethauntedbyanunnamed Asheber cametoIsraelseekingasylumfrom Israel’s Holotcenter. and Eritrea, detainedforseveralyearsin Israelis, arethemselvesrefugeesfromDarfur tion centers. These African actors, standingas als to “concentrate” asylumseekersindeten- With Doron, theyexpressrevulsionatpropos- refuting the Assembly’s fearofrefugee “floods.” Asheber) pickupIsraeliflagsandjoinDoronin dark-skinned men(OmadShakurand Awet Then theimageshifts, complicates, astwo Like thousandsofothers, Shakurand 82–88. Waltham, MA:BrandeisUniversityPress. Experience in World Cinema, ed. LawrenceBaron, Commemoration.” Jewish InTheModern The DybbukandtheBurdenofHolocaust article.aspx/Dybbuk_The. January 162018. www.yivoencyclopedia.org/ Encyclopedia ofJews Europe. inEastern Accessed in theBalkansand

Critical Acts 167

2 a few of the detainees — meeting, talking, bringing requested talking, meeting, — Mograbi and Alon proceeded slowly, Alon proceeded slowly, Mograbi and grounded in tactics of political organizing and grounded in tactics of political organizing scholar- TO a Alon, informal ethnography. practitioner and cofounder of the Palestinian- Israeli alliance group Combatants for Peace, just after the Holot detention center had just after the Holot detention center had Mograbi shared an idea to use theatre opened. to illuminate Israel’s complex position towards citizen as an Israeli Like Mograbi, refugees. sense of Alon felt a with refugee grandparents, been connection to the asylum seekers and had - participating in supportive marches and dem to Alon and Mograbi thus agreed onstrations. visit Holot one day a week over several months, seek- with asylum TO with the goal of creating visible The theatre would make participants ers. illuminat- as refugees rather than as infiltrators, ing the conditions that defined their status. Aviv Tel food from mostly agreed to try out some theatre games, They hoping to learn English and Hebrew. worked to identify potential participants in south African activists living in Holot through in their weekly visits to Holot, Then, Aviv. Tel with persis- “hung out” Alon and Mograbi (Alon in “white anthropologists” like tence, After several weeks of hanging Perelman 2018). around Figure 1. The ensemble of HLT actors representing the UN Assembly. UN Assembly. actors representing the of HLT Figure 1. The ensemble directed by Chen company, In Holot Legislatve Theatre, created by HLT 2018. (Photo by Erez Harodi) Aviv, Alon. Tmuna Theatre, Tel refuge -

For more details about polarized theatre and Combatants for Peace see Alon (2011, 2014). Both company and production, HLT pres- HLT Both company and production, emerged from an 18-month devel- HLT 2.

between Egypt and Israel, denied ­ between Egypt and Israel, 2014, Alon in approached theatre artist Chen by both, Israeli filmmaker Avi Mograbi Israeli filmmaker by both, ginal Israeli spaces (restaurants, fac- spaces (restaurants, ginal Israeli been tolerated by the tories) had - also triggering demo while state, among graphic and labor anxieties A few some in the Israeli public. began round- the state years ago, and more African refugees ing up its south- aggressively policing The Holot ern border with Egypt. Negev des- detention center in the for ert housed asylum seekers until years, and sometimes months, ordered the Israeli Supreme Court Before the center closed in 2018. and Asheber, Shakur, that closure, African asylum seek- several other ers had been engaged in a work- Augusto shop process informed by Theatre of the Oppressed Boal’s allies. joined at various points by Israeli (TO), and what actions How they arrived in Israel, to witnessing audiences might take in response is the subject of the Holot their predicament, Legislative Theatre (HLT). ents social dilemmas created by Israeli state - policy towards asylum seekers through modu Based on the ref- interactive performances. lar, these ugees’ testimonies and personal stories, UN performances offer a rereading of the 1951 aiming to arouse pub- Refugee Convention, - lic and legal debate leading to political trans Performances on formation (Alon 2018). community centers, in kibbutzes, the streets, and within professional theatres acti- schools, HLT’s vate Israeli publics in multiple realms. to an TO epic dramaturgy additionally adapts explicitly racialized Israeli context that models democratic processes on and off the stage. - Moved by reports of asy opment process. lum seekers from Darfur and Eritrea trapped violence that is a byproduct of violence that and local wars. global economics in mar “day jobs” The refugees’ Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_a_00841 by guest on 26 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_a_00841 by guest on26 September 2021 168 Critical Acts “polarized” TO model(Alon2018). joined togethertocreatewhat Alon termsa other projectswith Alon (Mograbi2016). They to inviteafewIsraeliactors, mostinvolvedin trust, confidence, andtheatre, thegroupagreed working togetherforalmostayear, building as wellcollectivecriticalconsciousness. After other andtothemselves, strengtheningapoetic illuminated therefugees’conditionstoeach shop development, thesetheatricalsketches discipline thebodyofdetainee. Inwork- indexed theexhaustingritualsofstatethat labor inIsrael. Absurdist bureaucraticscenarios and cheese-makinggesturedtowardsinvisible border. A movementmachineofdishwashing human fence, signalingeffortstocrossthe in theHLT production. These includeda company createdfurtherimagesthatappeared Sudanese participants. Fromthisbeginning, the from Eritrea, whichresonatedwiththeSouth conditions thatprovokedrefugees’departure from below. The imagecommunicatedthe block eatingabananawhilecrowdwatched position asrefugees. tableaux thatmetaphoricallysketchedouttheir tually craftImage Theatre pieces ipants workedwithexpressivegamestoeven- (2016), thesmallgroupofsixtoeightpartic- umented inMograbi’sfilmBetween Fences vating responsestooppression(155). As doc- “rehearses revolution” byilluminatingandacti- (Boal [1979]1985:126). Boalproposesthat TO from individual-emotionaltocollective-activist while movingparticipantsalongaspectrum games workedto “make thebodyexpressive” site designedtocreatedespair(Lee2015). TO Vered Lee, the TO gamesrestoredhopeina the therapeuticandpoliticalpowerof TO. ­discovered insteadthelanguageoftheatreand

ple, IsraelisandPalestinians, prisonersandstu- this “polarized model,” eachgroup(forexam- ted topoliticalstrugglewiththe oppressed. In include thoseinthedominantculturecommit- extended thepracticesoverseveralyearsto confined tooppressedcommunities, Alonhad 3. In aninauguralimage, ageneralstoodon According toparticipantsinterviewedby Mograbi documents thecreativeprocessinhisfilmBetweenFences (2016). Where Boalhadadvocatedfor TO tobe — 3 embodied dynamic streettheatre, presented ona­ conditions. Piecescanbeexcerpted asvisually turgy drawsattentiontochangesinmaterial might beabletocarrywiththeminexile. the boxesseemstoapproximatewhatrefugees prop storage, arrangedinanarc. The sizeof stools besidecardboardboxesthatdoubleas not engagedinascene, actorssitupstageatop as fences, flags, prisonbars, andrifles. When Brook’s aesthetic, signalwalkingsticksaswell bamboo poles, reminiscentofdirectorPeter versa. Propsunifyanddistinguishaswell. Thin Israelis sometimesportraymigrantsandvice also enableconscientiouscross-ethniccasting: businessperson, thedictator. These details social statusoftherefugee, thesoldier, the als onajacket, eachaccessorysignalingthe mented byredscarves, caps, ablazer, med- and divides. Basicblackcostumesareaug- sories thatindicatehowpoweraccrues, shifts, drawing attentiontopropsandcostumeacces- The minimaldesignenablesmobilitywhilealso was consistentwithotherHLT performances. performers andscenes, theminimalistdesign expansion oftraining. this deliberatemultiplicationofpeopleand expanded Tmuna productionemergedfrom titioners oftenrefertoas “difficultators”). The (thought-provoking facilitatorsthat TO prac- of thefirstgroupthathadtrainedas TO jokers ond generation” ofdetaineesledbymembers tion Iwitnessedin Tmuna includeda “sec- Israel toclosetheHolotCenter. The produc- communities andatralliesdesignedtopressure throughout Israelattheinvitationofvarious of asylumseekersin2015, HLT performed in Tel Aviv. After thereleaseoffirstgroup detainees thatallowedfortheirperformance company thenprocuredaweekendpassfor including afewhundredvisitingIsraelis. The mer of2015foraraptaudiencethousands, first performedintheHolotcentersum- HLT, theinitialgroupofrefugeesandallies ing newwaysofbeingtogether. Inthecaseof power dynamicsbetweenthemwhilemodel- dents) bearswitnesstotheother, exploring Like itsdesign, theproduction’sdrama- While the Tmuna productionhadmore blanket Critical Acts 169

4 Having prepared the ground, oriented the Having prepared the ground, tics. Tsabari revises a well-known childhood childhood a well-known revises Tsabari tics. Defense Israel’s hard-line song to critique then takes up He Lieberman. Avigdor Minister, in 1894 as published “J’Accuse,” Emile Zola’s of French to the flimsy conviction a response for spying. Alfred Dreyfus Jewish officer Tsabari’s contemporary accusation references contemporary Tsabari’s (parliament) members the 71 Israeli Knesset - audience to the company and current polit making explicit the connection ical context, between historical anti-Semitism and contem- the ensemble stands. porary racial anxieties, more familiar with the makeup of We become uni- this group as they step forward together, with Israelis in T-shirts, formly clad in black A divided Africans in jeans. black pants and then to they collectively look at us, ensemble, - who had recently voted for refugee deporta ensem- out, calls the members Tsabari As tion. ble actors hold up signs inscribed with their - The Knesset members’ names eventu names. African asylum seekers ally obscure all of the in the ensemble; the moment makes the HLT members’ racial polarity starkly visible. - - Figure 2. Signs with Knesset members’ names obscure all of the African Figure 2. Signs with Knesset members’ names and the ensemble in Holot Tsabari asylum seekers in the ensemble. Yossi directed by Chen Alon. company, Legislative Theatre, created by HLT 2018. (Photo by Erez Harodi) Aviv, Tmuna Theatre, Tel -

In 1894 French Jewish officer Alfred Dreyfus was convicted of spying despite flimsy evidence and a cover up on In 1894 French Jewish officer Alfred Dreyfus was convicted of spying despite flimsy evidence and conviction decried both the army and state and resulted in Zola’s editorial, “J’accuse,” Zola’s the part of the army. for libel. In Tmuna, “preparations” are “preparations” initially In Tmuna, The structure, as I character as I The structure, 4.

ize it, incorporates five phases, pro- incorporates five phases, ize it, gressively illuminating refugee subjectivity and leading to audi- ence activation: (1) preparing the ground; (2) (dis) orientations; (3) inquiry about the refugee; (4) inves- tigations of refugee life; and (5) dia- Each phase dynamizes both logues. dialectical and ensemble energies, keeping the audience alert to his- repressive power torical resonances, and possibilities for alli- dynamics, ance and transformation. then shockingly polit- immersive and playful, of the The audience enters to the sound ical. in singing childhood songs ensemble at play, up The joyful scene warms various languages. to warm our ears We both actors and audience. our eyes to the array of the linguistic collage, immer This bodies; we warm to the ensemble. sive engagement then shifts to a more overt Alon steps forward to speak about orientation. the theatrical process and politics of the pro- a guest artist followed Tmuna, In duction. As a Tsabari. Yossi Alon: spoken word activist Tsabari Yemen, self-identified Arab Jew from He interrupts conventional ethnic polarities. also disrupts and plays with text in a mode tac- reminiscent of Brecht’s Verfremdungseffekt porate up-to-the-minute legislative develop- legislative porate up-to-the-minute switch out refugee status and ments around scenes Several scenarios. different personal interactive to be excerpted for are designed which almost always forum theatre sessions, While the pro- follow the longer productions. Holot cen- duction devised for the I witnessed as a digital which ter, is Tmuna, in archive and saw live it is the adaptable in many ways, carefully conceived dramaturgical the slightly structure that enables emphases in different framings and different settings. in the desert, or performed on a professional or performed on in the desert, scenes incor any given performance, At stage. Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_a_00841 by guest on 26 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_a_00841 by guest on26 September 2021 170 Chen Alon.TmunaTheatre,Tel Aviv, 2018.(PhotobyErezHarodi) refugee. HolotLegislativeTheatre,createdbyHLT company, directedby of theIsraelimemberscompanyreadingUNdefinition ofthe Figure 3.Ensemblemembersinasceneofpoliticaltorturewith chorus Critical Acts 1951 UNRefugeeConventionthatdefine rus ofIsraeliwomenreadingarticlesfromthe Asheber’s refugeestorywithaGreekcho- ugee?” The subsequentsceneintegrates Awet moves toaddressthequestion, “What isaref- Dictatorship.” Emergency; Law:None;Court Trial: None; ral phrases: “Leaving theHomeland:Stateof the statusofrefugeesthroughrepeatedcho- lexicon isinitiallydisorienting. Itestablishes responses withsharedgesturalimagery, the yers. Renderedlikealiturgy, throughchoral gee statusdevelopedwithhumanrightslaw- to alexiconofterminologyaboutrefu- fication andorientstheaudienceinstead the earthtoloveeachother. language of Tigrinya, “Nesamama,” acallfrom and softlybegintosingasongintheEritrean each other. They pickuptheirwalkingsticks soldiers. The sceneilluminates networksof dictator toprofitfromthelabor ofEritrean person (perhapsIsraeli)whoconnives witha story, incorporating DoronLevasabusiness- the ­ together toagainrendervisiblethestatusof the refugee. The sceneandthereadingswork From thissparechoralframe, thepiece The nextsectiondisruptsthislovinguni- refugee. Itisbothanindividual andsocial The productionphysicalizesthe ongoingpre- cial networksandbouncedbybureaucracies. ugee existsinagrayarea, bolstered byunoffi- tenuousness ofrefugeelifeinIsrael. The ref- and law, thefourth segmentinvestigatesthe seeker visiblethroughnarrative, embodiment, the stageenabledbytheirwalkingsticks, then actors shiftsintoahuddledmass. They traverse gee refusal). The groupofIsraeliand African (which elaboratesontheprohibitionofrefu- of the1951UNConventiononRefugees don redscarveswhilechanting Article 33 from theirbamboopoles. Three Israeliwomen heels andremovesthemulticoloredclothflags cated onlybycapandphysicality)clickshis speaking in Tigrinya, “tomorrow it’syou.” appearing asthecross-castIsraelidelegate, but scene. “Yesterday itwasus,” adds Asheber now Lev warnsthe Assembly inHebrew, lateinthe “Your wordshaveastrongscentofracism,” the historicalUNConventiondetailedabove. a reason.” Fromthesocial, thesceneshiftsto him manytimes[...]withoutatrial, without dier whotortures Asheber: “I wastieduplike works, integratingthedirectaddressofasol- enable theviolencethatsustainsthesenet- power andunderlinestheconditionsthat Where thethirdsectionmakesasylum The wordshangintheairasasoldier(indi- children caughtinbetween. left behindattheborder, and of raped byEgyptiansoldiers, ofmen ries from the perspectives of women We hearseveralmonologues, sto- Refugee storiesfractureaswell. both castingandinternaldissent. sus soldiers the staged­ trusting someonetocatchit. Thus, tosses acanteenintotheaudience, to denywatertherefugees. One diers. Somequestionthecommands but conflictemergesamong mime “pushing back” therefugees, and Israeliactors). The soldiers diers (portrayedbyboth African ing us, standsacollectionofsol- opposite endofthestage, alsofac- the Egyptianborderbarrier. Onthe where theirstickscrosstobecome move directlytowardstheaudience dialectic — is complicatedby — ­ refugees ver t he sol- - Critical Acts 171 As Boal has argued, Theatre of the As Boal has argued, On several occasions Boal has stated that designed to strengthen the possibilities for leg- designed to strengthen the possibilities for islative change. Oppressed extends into life ([1992] 2002:246), Theatre likewise does and Holot Legislative Actors not conclude even with these circles. - train towards enacting the effective drama turgy of their stories in various public spheres They including the courtroom and the media. learn to perform tactically for Israeli audiences. the ensemble not only mod- At the same time, but also practices equita- els alliance onstage, The group determines ble democracy offstage. how they together where and who performs, and share funds earned will alter the script, operates as a thus HLT from performances. rare performance of long-term activist alliance. one-time Rather than a singular production, the company or short run, workshop encounter, models sustainable activism and transforma- it is in its political ideals, While clear-eyed tion. The a model fueled as much by joy as outrage. company celebrates family reunions whether this means the departure of a company member released from Holot or emigrating to Canada. but to be a citizen is not to belong to a society, For those in the rather to transform society. HLT company without legal status as citizens, offers the opportunity for a different kind of a - — Figure 4. The ensemble as refugees pushing through a fence at the Israeli as refugees pushing through a fence at the Figure 4. The ensemble directed by company, by HLT border in Holot Legislative Theatre, created 2018. (Photo by Erez Harodi) Aviv, Chen Alon. Tmuna Theatre, Tel ripe for the interven- —

In the final stage before these The production moves towards conclu- acter) their proposed solutions to the situa- I The performance tions presented in the play. attended also included discussion circles with asylum seekers and human rights lawyers mode of ongoing education and activation carity with a ritualized bobbing on a ritualized bobbing carity with seek- The asylum imagined buses. a public park placed ers sleep in invading audience, among the ref- witness how We space. “our” is both restricted and ugee labor “policies of enabled by desired, render them that nonenforcement” and civil beholden to employers to Holot, When moved servants. unwrit- they are fined for breaking theatrical ten rules such as carrying While derived scripts in Hebrew. and enacted from personal stories Legislative Holot by individuals, of these Theatre frames each and social, struggles as structural, unresolved tions of interactive forum theatre. where the audience is forums, invited to directly intervene in the stage action, prepares the ground again through dia- HLT logical encounters between the polarized The ensemble plays out a well-known groups. scene from Israeli playwright Hanoch Levin’s of Jewish refugees (1993), The Child’s Dreaming a boat from Nazi Germany on the St. Louis, 1939. in “civilized countries” refused entry to of The scene realizes Mograbi’s initial vision plays. casting asylum seekers in Jewish refugee sion with an ensemble reconnection: all the actors — Israeli, Eritrean, — stand Darfurian in a line together and briefly share their names Liat Shabtai speaks of and diaspora stories. how her grandmother snuck out of France “Now I have Israeli and French in a suitcase. Omad, Awet, Yonatan, In contrast, passports.” The and others have no passports. Nuraldin, commonalities among ensemble stories are The positioned again in contrast to legal status. audience is now primed to explore this con- In tradiction together through forum theatre. “spect-actors,” or audience members, forum, replace ensemble members to enact (in char Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_a_00841 by guest on 26 September 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_a_00841 by guest on26 September 2021 172 Critical Acts Boal, Augusto. (1979)1985. Theatre oftheOppressed. Alon, Chen. 2018. Personal interviewwithauthor. Alon, Chen. 2014. “Dismantling RoadBlocks:Non- Alon, Chen. 2011. “Non-Violent Struggleas References such thingasan “illegal” humanbeing. into civilsocietybymaintainingthatthere’sno Holot Legislative Theatre legislatestherefugee towards legislativeandsocialtransformation. citizenship andbelonging, whilealsoworking New York:Group. Communications Theatre Trans. Charles A. andMaria-OdiliaLealMcBride. Tel Aviv, 18March. Publishing. Zerbib, 194 Citron, Sharon Aronson-Lehavi, andDavid Practices inthe Twenty-First,ed. Century Atay PerspectivesStudies inMotion:International and Group ‘Combatants forPeace.’” InPerformance Violent ResistanceofthePalestinian-Israeli 161–72. New York: PeterLang. the Oppressed, ed. Toby EmertandEllieFriedland, In “ComeCloser”:CriticalPerspectives on Theatre of and IsraeliPolarized Theatre oftheOppressed.” Reconciliation CombatantsforPeace:Palestinian –205. New York: Bloomsbury

.org/doi/suppl/10.1162/DRAM_a_00836 article, pleasevisithttp://www.mitpressjournals To view supplementalmaterialsrelatedtothis of Technology ©2019 New York University and the Massachusetts Institute TDR: The Drama Review 63:2 (T242) Summer 2019. Perelman, Ofer. 2018. “How aSudanese Aslyum Mograbi, Avi, dir. 2016. Between Fences. Producedby Lee, Vered. 2015. “All theDesert’saStagefor These Boal, Augusto. (1992) 2002. Gamesfor Actors andNon- -in-holot-1.5911079. -sudanese-asylum-seeker-caught-the-acting-bug .com/israel-news/.premium.MAGAZINE-how-a 17 March. Accessed 20March2018. www.haaretz Seeker Caughtthe Acting BuginHolot.” Haaretz, Doc&Film International. -1.5371404. -the-deserts-a-stage-for-these-asylum-seekers 2018.18 March www.haaretz.com/.premium-all Asylum Seekers.” Haaretz, 13June. Accessed Routledge. actors, 2nded. Trans. Adrian Jackson. London: