Wednesday, June 03, 2009

Comedia dell'arte

Is this, in case you were wondering.

In case anyone is interested.
I went to an Israeli one tonight. The plot centered around a Yeshiva and a theater that were located on the same street. The Rav's wife is in a constant battle with the manager? I guess of the theater - classic chiloni/chareidi conflict. In order to keep some actors from entering the city and performing at the theater, the rabbanit decides to marry off her talmud chacham son to a girl of means; meanwhile he is madly in love with a local freicha. These are the bare bones of the plot, but there are other complications and hilarity ensues. Generally.

It was fascinating to see this centuries old form used in a modern Israeli setting. Of course I love satire in general, and especially on Jewish stuff, but even so, I felt that it was a peculiarly interesting format for this particular kind of a story. The physical comedy could be a little over the top, and obviously elements of the story were caricaturized out of reality, but even so I felt that it was a genuinely fresh and unique idea artistically. Anyway, just thought I'd share that.

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