[R-G] Packed house for provocative play

[Sid Shniad]

http://www.montrealgazette.com/Entertainment/Packed+house+provocative+play/1560162/story.html 



  

Montreal Gazette                                                                                                         May 4, 2009 



  

Packed house for provocative play 





  

Seven Jewish children; Work called anti-Semitic by some, 'beautiful and elusive' by others 





  

By Jan Ravensbergen, The Gazette 



  

An increasing number of voices from within Montreal's Jewish community have begun to elbow aside the traditional leadership to convey public dissent over Israel's actions in the Gaza, Jewish-community activist Devora Neumark said yesterday. 



  

"On campuses, a growing number of young, undergraduate and graduate Jewish students are involved in pro-Palestinian activist events," she added. 



  

"They are really accepting to speak out and say: 'We are tired of being painted as part of this monolithic Jewish mainstream voice.' 



  

"It is amazing to see the dynamism and the active engagement of these students on the Concordia campus, the McGill campus, who are saying: 'We have to speak up,' " she said. 



  

Neumark spoke up after an unexpectedly strong turnout by local theatregoers prompted Independent Jewish Voices Montreal to add an extra Sunday-afternoon performance at the last minute of a provocative new play by English playwright Caryl Churchill. 



  

The short play - Seven Jewish Children, A Play for Gaza - tackles themes ranging from the Holocaust to the recent Israeli incursion into Gaza. 



  

Mainstream Jewish leaders have condemned the play without equivocation. 



  

Churchill's play is "anti-Semitic and full of hatred," Adam Atlas, incoming president of the Quebec Jewish Congress, formerly the Canadian Jewish Congress Quebec Region, has said. 



  

Sara Saber-Freedman of the Canada-Israel Committee said the play revives the ancient blood libel against Jews. 



  

Regardless, more than 230 Montrealers took turns jamming into the 75-seat theatre at Espace Geordie in the Plateau district yesterday for what became three performances rather than the two originally scheduled. 



  

It was the world premiere of the play's French-language version. 



  

It also marked the play's Canadian stage debut in English, said director Rose Plotek, a recent graduate of the National Theatre School in Montreal. 



  

Independent Jewish Voices has about 30 active members in this city and several hundred in 18 chapters across Canada, member Scott Weinstein said. 



  

The three presentations raised close to $2,000 for the London-based organization Medical Aid for Palestinians, he added. 



  

Toronto performances have been scheduled May 15 -17. 



  

With each performance yesterday, the all-woman 10-member cast staged their 1,300-word reading first in English, then in French. 



  

Each performance took about 20 minutes, followed by audience discussion. 



  

Abby Lippman, an activist with the Voices group and one of the organizers, said she had invited "the most progressive rabbi in our city" to attend. 



  

"But he didn't," she told the audience. 



  

Playwright Tony Kushner and journalism teacher Alisa Solomon, writing in The Nation, said the play "should be seen and discussed as widely as possible. 



  

"Though you'd never guess from the descriptions offered by its detractors," the two wrote, "the play is dense, beautiful, elusive and intentionally indeterminate." 



  

janr at thegazette.canwest.com