They say there is magic on Friday afternoons, just before Shabbat comes. I don’t know if it’s the energy of the weekend or that the show “I am your grandmother” is definitely something special. I saw the show this Friday, when the sun was shining outside and a very large group of pensioners were sitting in the hall. I wasn’t worried, if that’s the question. Gilat Ankouri and Shlomo Vyshinsky appeared in the show’s bulletin, so I was calm. “What could be terrible”, I asked myself, but what I saw on stage was much more than witty comedy.
The show follows Odelia (Rebeka Michaeli), if you will “Odi”, a rigid and cynical pensioner. In addition, she is a widow and a bereaved mother who refuses to sign the “clearance and construction” project in her building, due to the fact that her late son’s room may be destroyed as a result. The plot begins when she goes through her son’s belongings and suddenly finds a form from the sperm bank, and this is how Udi realizes that somewhere in the world her grandson is.
Her two soul mates are Deborah (Gilat Ankouri) who does not miss a moment to mention that she is “a retired judge and was nominated twice for the Supreme Court, but in the end it didn’t help because of political constraints”, and beside her lives a pensioner (Esti Kosovitzki) who is also partly happy but not very sharp , picks up late and tries very hard to adapt to the young environment, which does not go well for her, but produces a lot of laughter and entertainment.
The three, very different but related, represent with grace and honest authenticity the relationships in the third age, the maturity to be a grandmother and not just, “Grandma Ahushloki”, all while using familiar jokes and coming to terms with the process of growing up. In a fairly quick decision, the three embroiderers engaged with Yoni (Eran Mor) who, if we put aside the play for a moment, I must say that I was waiting with all my heart to meet Tom Avni, who shares the role with Mor on and off, but from the second the guy appeared on stage he was so connected to the character that for a moment I didn’t realize I was in a show. The relationship with the character Michaeli was so special, that I wondered if they were related in reality as well. Yoni who was in charge of the Binui evacuation project worked for Mrs. Odelia’s signature and according to him “When[הוא] want something, all means are kosher” – so kosher that he acted on the sly that he knowingly damaged Mrs. Odelia’s house. From here, the three golden girls and the young man embark on a journey that is disturbed, painful and exciting but most of all – funny.
“I am your grandmother” (photo: Redi Rubinstein)
As part of the journey to find the long-awaited grandson, Udi is forced to meet with Professor Shor (Shlomo Vyshinsky) in order to extract information from him. Vyshinsky plays a middle-aged divorced man who enters the singles market and doesn’t stop bragging. While over the years Vyshinsky plays in countless plays and shows, this time it was interesting to see him, precisely because of the fact that he is a bereaved father himself, and all he has left is the dog from the unit in which his son fought. If so, there is a similarity, but his character is completely different and maybe that’s the whole beauty. The entire show is very reminiscent of reality, but at the same time it anticipates the social change that has taken place in society and is yet to take root. The fascinating journey that stands at the center of the play manages to easily skip over the generation gaps at the end of which – maybe, just maybe – Odelia will say for the first time in her life – “I am your grandmother”, while we will be able to embrace the changes taking place in reality.
In a world that is based on technology and every other day we get the opportunity to “innovate” and “upgrade” or maybe “update a version”, it wouldn’t hurt to stop life for eighty minutes, sit in “Cameri 1” and watch the genius work by Itai Sontag and directed by Roy Segev. Although I’m not sure to what extent they understand that they took such a burning social issue in Israeli society and managed to make the long-awaited change accessible in such a special and honest way.
“I am your grandmother” (photo: Redi Rubinstein)
The theater, which has gone through many upheavals in recent years on so many levels, often brings politics into the plays and expresses a position on stage. It is worth noting that beyond the text written with excessive wit and Polish jokes, which only those who grew up next to the Yiddish-Zims and Kogel will understand, the unusual setting – a changing and rotating setting. Anyone who remembers that in the theater, between scenes there is a change of actors or scenery that is changed by stage assistants, this time the scenery rotates on the stage and creates another dimension that wraps the story.
Alongside this, the political interest is at the heart of the show. The technological developments that today make it possible to produce children even if there is no father figure in the picture by the sperm bank, which was positioned as a solution for women who all they want is to “become a mother”. Asanat Ben Yehuda appears in the play, even if only for a moment, but with a very poignant statement. Ben Yehuda appears as a single mother who chose to establish a family unit without a father figure. Her image and the statement that she introduced into the show present the cry of women who experience the pregnancy process alone, with courage, bravery and in the face of endless reactions that do not bring satisfaction. Beyond that, the conversation with the older women also expresses the attitude of the older generation, which does not understand the change that has taken place in the term “family”. Well I think I’ve said enough, just do yourself a favor and go see the show.