YENTL,” the play now in production at the Cleveland Play House, is based on Isaac Bashevis Singer’s short story, “YENTL, THE YESHIVA BOY.”
The play had a short Broadway run in 1975, but the story is best known to the general public because of the film version, which was written, produced and directed by and starred Barbara Streisand.
The tale centers on Yentl, a girl whose father, a learned Orthodox Rabbi, defies religious custom and teaches his daughter to read and debate Jewish law and theology. When he dies, she is at a loss as to how to continue to learn, to achieve. She cuts off her hair, dresses as a young man, enters a “yeshiva” (a religious training school), and lives as a man.
Her unusual friendship with Avigdor, her study partner, and marriage to Hadass, Avigdor’s former fiancé, sets the story on a track of intrigue.
To truly understand “YENTL,” requires a knowledge of Orthodox Judaism as practiced in the shetls (villages) of pre-World War II eastern Europe, as well as Isaac Bashevis Singer.
Orthodox Judaism centers on the belief in one, all knowing God, and adherence to a strict interpretation and application of the laws and ethics of the Torah. The belief system in Eastern Europe, before the Holocaust, intertwined religious laws with traditions, mysticism and superstitions. These beliefs carried over into patterns of daily life and influenced such things as the foods eaten, the patterns for birth and marriage and death, the clothing worn, and the role of males and females.
Singer lived for much of his formative years in a Polish/Russian shtetl, and was well trained in all aspects of Orthodox Judaism.
The winner of the Nobel Prize for literature, Singer, like his greatest literary influences, Chekhov ...
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... three times through forked fingers when they are discussing a positive action, such as a marriage or a birth. This is an old superstitious action to ward off the “meesa meshina,” the evil spirit.)
But, production questions abound.
Depending on which area a person comes from, pronunciations differ. But the Hebrew pronunciations should have been uniform to represent that these people are from the same place. Why the great variance of Hebraic sounds?
Most of the cast speaks in standard English, representing commonality of language, but one cast member uses an indefinable accent and overplays his part for laughs. Why?
A general air of superficiality invades the production. Why? Unless done with reality, the play loses its “tam” (Yiddish for taste), fringes on mockery of the way of life being depicted, and weakens the accomplishment of the author’s purpose.
The characters address the audience; the fast movement from scene to scene juxtaposing past and present and prevents us from identifying with particular characters, forcing us to assess their points of view; there are few characters who fail to repel us, as they display truly human complexity and fallibility. That fallibility is usually associated with greed and a ruthless disregard for the needs of others. Emotional needs are rarely acknowledged by those most concerned with taking what they maintain is theirs, and this confusion of feeling and finance contributes to the play's ultimate bleak mood.
...ition to costume, language and dialogue is what fixes the atmosphere and the action. In a manner very similar to Shakespeare, Calderón weaves description of the scene and of what is occurring into the main thrust of the play. In this sense, he is more than a poet, he is a dramatic craftsman who predominantly through his verse alone, creates a drama in its own right. All the clues to the plot and its themes lie in the text; the use of staging, costume, music and props can be used to enhance what lies in the script. What they give to the play is a fuller and more entertaining dramatic production. Thus, if used sensitively and intelligently by a director, these factors can increase the dramatic power of the work. The primary focus, however, remains the language, which relies on a high standard of acting in order to do justice to the subtleties of the play.
Sometimes, cuts in a play obey to reasons regarding the stage capacity, or your budget. In the essay, we will choose our cuts based on the play only, as we consider it an interesting exercise that will surely help us understanding the play. We decided to read the play a couple of times, highlighting the elements we could cut, and after thinking carefully, these are the parts we would cut. We intended to keep it short, as not to alter the meaning of the play, or hinder any part of the plot, we focused on trimming parts that would not necessarily add up to the plot, but instead, are there to show the human parts of the play, these parts are important in their own right, of course, but in our cut, we focused on the plot, excuse us beforehand if we are too severe, and cut some parts we should have
It was difficult for me to find many parallels between this play and the works that we studied in Canadian Literature because this play does not follow a plot line and does not include many elements that could be relatable to the works we studied. It also does not relate to the themes that were emphasized in our course. However, I found the close analysis of the final scene of a play, acted out forty- three different times to be reflective of the close analysis’ we have done many times in class with poetry and prose. It was interesting to watch these close analysis’ to understand all of the possible interactions these characters could have had. It led me to question the endings of the works that ...
First of all, strong insight is perhaps given into the Viennese high society, who were "devoted to order, mannered charm and the grandiloquent facades on the `Ringstrasse' "³ by the reaction of the audiences alone to the play and its characters. Both shocked and embarrassed the Viennese bourgeoisie with its "uncompromising representation of the Viennese world"². Schnitzler's writing of the play and his inclusion of these common, gritty characters coupled with the reaction of this part of Viennese society represents the "test of wills... [sic] between well-behaved traditionalism and liberated modernism"³ emerging in Vienna at this time.
Orthodox Judaism considers itself the authentic bearer of the religious Jewish tradition and believes highly in the preservation of tradition. It is also the oldest form of Judaism. In the United States it is estimated that today approximately 21% of Jews identify themselves as Orthodox (United Jewish Communities, 2003). The essential principle of Orthodox Judaism is Torah min Hashamayim, which mens that the Torah and all its commentaries and interpretations are divinely revealed (Einstein& Kukoff, 1989, p. 151). According to Orthodox Judaism because all the laws and traditions of Judaism are of direct and divine origin, they must be followed by all Jews.
Note the significance each epoch of Jewish history had on the formation of the Jewish people’s identity and religion.
...ing something that they had either experienced or had a family member experience. As a result, it caused them to identify with the play. The manner in which this play has been configured such that it is drawing on the predatory and imperialistic tendencies displayed by multinational conglomerates provides a way for today's audience to identify with the plight of the characters and their realm.
"Orthodox Juadism." Jewish Virtual Library. The American-Israeli Cooperative Enterprise, n.d. Web. 20 Mar. 2014. .
Now that the play, “Post-its (Notes on a Marriage),” could make the audience react to feel distanced and questionable of the actions of the characters, how can that relate to everyday life? traits of the play Post-its (Notes on a Marriage) through staging and conversation,
I am a very spiritual person and am always interested in learning about other religions, especially the three monotheistic faiths: Judaism, Christianity, and Islam. I feel I have an adequate knowledge of Christianity and Islam, but I do not know much about Judaism. This paper will focus on the questions I have about Judaism. I have always wanted to know the fundamental beliefs of Judaism. I want to know how many Jews there are in the United States and in the world. I often see Orthodox Jewish men wearing yarmulkes and prayer shawls, and I wonder what is the purpose of wearing these. And finally, I wanted to know what is the role of women in Judaism.
Near the end of his well known treatment of transgression and surveillance in Measure for Measure, Jonathan Dollimore makes an observation about the world of the play that deserves further consideration by feminist scholars:
...o do plays, all these aspects form part of telling a story in a play, and they also form part of delivering a message to the audience, and such are things in which critics have focused their efforts on in order to evaluate plays. In The Phantom Lady, we can see themes advocated such as nobility, love and courtesy, we see brilliant stage effects such as lighting, costumes, setting and dialogue that aid in telling the story, and last but not least, we analyze the implications a story like this has on past times and can compare it to what would happen in modern times. Plays are made up of many different aspects such as these, and every aspect is vital to the performance and conveying of the play, because they are not as simple as people believe them to be, they are complex and intriguing to many people who are open minded.
The spectacle of this play is limited which is why there is such weight put on the actors themselves. Their scene and ensembles never show signs of change yet they develop and grow. There is a huge stress on the statue, which whom the Learned Ladies bow
Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, also spelled Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, was born in Votkinsk, in the city of Vyatka, Russia, May 7, 1840. Second in a family of five sons and one daughter, to whom he was extremely devoted. Once in his early teens when he was in school at St. Petersburg and his mother started to drive to another city, he had to be held back while she got into the carriage, and the moment he was free ran and tried to hold the wheels.