A stage version of “The Bicycle Boy”, the autobiographical book by Jerusalem author Eli Amir, is set to be the highlight of the Khan Theater’s repertoire for the 2022-2023 season, which was announced yesterday. The person who adapted the story of Amir’s youth, who began his career as a messenger boy in a government office, is director Aya Kaplan, who is part of the female revolution, led by Udi Ben-Moshe, the khan’s artistic director. This, in that four of his five plays will be directed by directors and the rest – by the landlord, ie Ben-Moshe himself.
Ben-Moshe, 56, who has come a long way as an actor before taking over the baton and much of his fame so far has come from directing brilliant and successful comedies, demonstrates a slightly different approach sitting in the cockpit of his theater for four years and says: “Our repertoire is dictated first by Materials that interest me and relate to our history, and as usual with us, this time too, emphasis will be placed on original productions. “
The 2022-2023 season at Khan will open in October with “The Clean House,” by Sarah Wahl, a modern American play that presents a world in which women run affairs. The show’s director, Tamar Keinan, is directing for the first time in Khan.
The next show, “Early Summer 1970,” will be directed by Moore Frank in a solo show, which will open for her star, Jehoiachin Friedlander, a veteran of the Khan actors, a farewell season before he retires. Friedlander, who has already had solo performances, will this time present a Bible teacher in a charged encounter with his students.
In February 23 ‘, as mentioned, the play “The Bicycle Boy” directed by Aya Kaplan and the protagonist of the plot, Eli Amir, will be as curious as others to know who the young actor who will be assigned to play his character is. “I am very happy that the Khan Theater chose to put my book on stage,” says the esteemed author, who among his books has very successfully presented a play based on his book, “Rooster of Atonement” and his book, “The Flower of Pigeons,” became a hit film directed by Nissim Dayan.
“The bicycle boy” is an Israeli story, “notes Amir. “In fact, this is a story of immigration, in which the audience will see how the boy at the center is making his way in Israeli society and integrating into the culture created in it.”
In April, the khan will present “Sea View,” a poetic comedy without words, directed by Shirley Desha, co-created by the khan’s actor, Vitaly Friedland. The play will bring the story of a little man, who in a capitalist world, infested with real estate sharks, wealthy, longs for some sea views.
The upcoming season at the Khan will close on July 23 with the performance of “The Devil in Moscow”, a colorful theatrical adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov’s classic novel, created by Ben-Moshe, as mentioned, who will direct it and Yotam Gotel, the Khan Theater’s playwright. 22 years after the play was staged at the Gesher Theater, where the devil eventually arrives in Jerusalem, this time it will reach the Eternal City. If Haim Topol starred on the bridge, in a rare performance on the Israeli theater stage, it is very intriguing how Erez Shafrir, a completely different actor compared to him, will step into his shoes.
The finale of the current season will also be with a play directed by Ben-Moshe, “Hello, Mr. Hepman”, a modern drama about love and loyalty by Jean-Philippe Daguerre and translated by Eli Bijawi, which will air towards the end of the month with a plot, which takes place in Paris During World War II.
Ben-Moshe, who as a director was known as a contractor for successes and was in demand in the various theaters, now has to make do with directing one play a season. “This is the price I pay for the role of artistic director,” he says without the slightest hint of regret.