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Monday, April 24, 2017
Donald and Darlene Shiley Stage
Old Globe Theatre
Conrad Prebys Theatre Center
By Joshua Sobol
Translated from the Hebrew by Roland Rees and Joshua Sobol
Adapted for American audiences by Barry Edelstein
Directed by Barry Edelstein
From Israel’s most prominent living playwright comes the first English-language reading of a moving drama about the ongoing legacy of the Holocaust. 2002: As violence continues to shatter lives in Israel and the Occupied Territories, Petra, a German war correspondent still reeling from a recent tragedy, visits Anda in her Tel Aviv flat. The two strangers talk into the night over coffee and cognac and discover a surprising and deep bond between them, dating back to World War II.
Joshua Sobol (Playwright) was born in Tel Aviv, Israel, and is a multiple-award-winning playwright, writer, and director whose work has been seen in theatres in Israel and abroad. His international career started in 1983 when the Haifa Theatre production of his play Weininger’s Night was invited to participate in the Edinburgh Festival. Between 1983 and 1989, Mr. Sobol wrote three related plays: Ghetto, Adam,and Underground, which constitute together The Ghetto Triptych. Its Haifa world premiere in May 1984 won the Israeli David’s Harp Award for Best Play, followed by Peter Zadek’s acclaimed German premiere that July at Freie Volksbühne Berlin, which was chosen by Theater Heute as Best Production and Best Foreign Play. Nicholas Hytner’s 1989 production at the National Theatre won Evening Standard and Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards for Best Play and was shortlisted for the Olivier Award in the same category. Ghetto has been translated into more than 20 languages and performed by leading theatres in more than 25 countries. Since 1995, Mr. Sobol has worked with director Paulus Manker on projects exploring new forms of the theatrical experience. In 1996 they created the polydrama Alma, based on the life of Alma Mahler, for Wiener Festwochen in Purkersdorf, Austria. Between 2001 and 2010, Alma was performed in Venice, Lisbon, Los Angeles, Vienna, Berlin, and Jerusalem. His many other Best Play accolades include four more David’s Harp Awards, David Pinski Award, Meskin Award, Issam Sirtawi Award, Tokyo’s Mainichi Art Prize, Yumiuri Shimbun Grand Prize, and Yoshiko Yuasa Prize. He has also been honored with the 2003 Rosenblum Award for Contribution to Israeli Theatre, 2009 Israeli Theatre Award for Life Achievement, and 2013 Golden Medal of the Land of Vienna for Meritorious Achievements. Mr. Sobol’s novel Shtika (Silence) was published in 2001 and received a Sapir Award nomination. His second novel, Whisky’s Fine, was published in 2005; the English version was published under the title Cut Throat Dog in 2010. His education includes degrees from Israel’s Oranim Academic College, Paris–Sorbonne University, Paris’s École Nationale Supérieure d’Informatique, and Israel’s Weizmann Institute of Science.
Barry Edelstein (Director, Erna Finci Viterbi Artistic Director) is a stage director, producer, author, and educator. Recognized as one of the leading American authorities on the works of Shakespeare, he has directed nearly half of the Bard’s plays. His Globe directing credits include The Winter’s Tale; Othello; The Twenty-seventh Man; the world premiere of Rain; and Picasso at the Lapin Agile. He also directed All’s Well That Ends Well as the inaugural production of the Globe for All community tour. As Director of the Shakespeare Initiative at The Public Theater (2008–2012), Mr. Edelstein oversaw all of the company’s Shakespearean productions as well as its educational, community outreach, and artist-training programs. At The Public, he staged the world premiere of The Twenty-seventh Man, Julius Caesar, The Merchant of Venice, Timon of Athens, and Steve Martin’s WASP and Other Plays.He was also Associate Producer of The Public’s Broadway production of The Merchant of Venice starring Al Pacino. From 1998 to 2003 he was Artistic Director of Classic Stage Company. Mr. Edelstein’s other Shakespearean directorial credits include The Winter’s Tale at Classic Stage Company; As You Like It starring Gwyneth Paltrow; and Richard III starring John Turturro. His additional credits include the Lucille Lortel Award-winning revival of Arthur Miller’s All My Sons; the world premiere of Steve Martin’s The Underpants, which he commissioned; and Molière’s The Misanthrope starring Uma Thurman in her stage debut. Mr. Edelstein has taught Shakespearean acting at The Juilliard School, New York University’s Graduate Acting Program, and the University of Southern California. His book Thinking Shakespeare is the standard text on American Shakespearean acting. He is also the author of Bardisms: Shakespeare for All Occasions. He is a graduate of Tufts University and the University of Oxford, where he studied as a Rhodes Scholar.
