presentation
Anna Karenina according to Tolstoy
Gesher Theatre
in May: Rimas Tominas
Processing: Rimas Tominas and Maria Patras
translating: Roy Chen
Actors: Efrat Ben Tzur, Gil Frank, Miki Leon, Neta Roth, Alon Friedman, Karin Saroya, Yuval Yanai
where: Sderot Yerushalayim 9, Jaffa
phone: 03-5157000
Ticket availability, dates and show times: www.gesher-theatre.co.il
“Anna Karenina” at the Gesher Hipoi Theater, directed by Rimas Tominas, is a sequence of images of pure beauty and the pinnacle of supreme acting, which lives and vibrates on a beautiful stage and turns three hours into a blink.
In a wonderful adaptation, concocted with the playwright Maria Patras, Shula Tominas found new meanings among the hundreds of pages of Tolstoy’s eternal novel. Freed from the burden of the “sanctity” of the text but faithful to the essence and intentions of the writer, Tominas leads words and figures on his way, making them earthly and accessible, keeping an aesthetic distance, but bringing them closer to life.
The story of the play
This is, apparently, a simple story: a high-class woman cheats on her husband, a senior government official, with a young aristocratic officer and falls madly in love. The heart directs her in its ways, and she surrenders and gives up everything – a life of comfort, status, money and a beloved son. Little by little her choice is closing in on her. Little by little the great love – elusive and deceptive as it can be – changes its face, decays and consumes, leading to a tragic end.
The novel consists of two separate narratives, contrasting representations of completely different worldviews and values: in front of Anna’s story, there is a parallel plot line led by Konstantin Levin, a landowner and tormented man who oscillates between the earthly and the heavenly, between the understanding that progress is inevitable, and clinging to the traditional concepts on which he was raised. Levin wanted to marry Miss Kitty and start a family, this, according to him, is the purpose of existence, the right and responsible thing to do. Kitty is in love with Vronsky, who breaks her heart in an affair with Karenina. In the end she will give in, sacrifice her desire, give up the urge, submit to the order of fairness and, like Levin, align with the norm.
Tolstoy, followed by Tominas, lays the background for the end at the very beginning. When Anna is called to save the marriage of her frivolous brother, Stiva Oblonsky, from collapsing, she convinces his wife, Dolly, that his infidelities are nothing more than a stumbling block and it would be better for her to relent and forgive. All for a peaceful home. In her own life, Anna will choose differently. All her actions, polar, irrational and emotional, shout opposition to the social control systems, apostasy to the norms, renouncing what is perceived as “right” and “proper”. But while the status quo protects, breaking the rules, according to the novel, leads to destruction. There is no absolute freedom. There is no absolute happiness.
“Anna Karenina” was published in 1877 against the background of the industrial revolution and the liberal reforms of Tsar Alexander II. The zeitgeist, a confused period between what was and what will be, is clearly evident in the novel, which deals with the consequences of the processes on society and the individual. The collapse of the feudal concept, questions regarding the status of women, religion and morality, passion, marriage and family, the happiness of the individual versus the common good, and the new elites versus the aristocracy, all these between the lines and on stage.
the main characters
Beyond the supreme aesthetics, which emphasizes physicality and movement, Tominas’ show is a masterpiece of acting. She is carried on her shoulders by Efrat ben Tzur, who has no way of defining her except as a witch. It is cold and distant, sweeping and devastated, strong and desperate, moving and moving between poles. Ben Tzur dives deep into the black waters, engulfed in the complex figure and it is impossible to look away from her. And she is surrounded by a team of excellent actors: Alon Friedman in the role of her brother, Stiva, Letz, frivolous and irresponsible, moving on stage as if holding a helium balloon in his hand that pulls him up, light and swaying with the wind. Gil Frank, the fair and gray husband of Anna, is fascinating mainly because he is an alpha male, a very creative and wild actor. Here he is weak, anxious and turned off, devoid of any fiancé. Also in Mickey Leon’s casting there is a very surprising “ifka matbara” that turns out to be brilliant. Far from the image of the powerful, wild and fearless man Leon conveys, his Konstantin Levin is clumsy and shy, drained and weak. And there is Neta Roth (Kitty), who is all youth and a real wave, which also has an unconscious youth, brazen in her arrogance.
The director of the show
Dostoyevsky called the novel: “a flawless work of art”. It seems that the theatrical version of Tominas is also like this. Tominas, the founder of the Royal Theater of Vilna, ran the Vakhtangov Theater in Moscow for more than a decade, an institution whose importance is hard to underestimate. Last year, following his statements against the Russian invasion of Ukraine, he was fired and forced into exile. Since then he has been in Israel, and it is hoped that “Anna Karenina” will not be the last play he directs here.
concert
The great classic
Jerusalem Camerata Orchestra
conductor: Philip Haruhe
choir: Collegium Vocale Ghent
Soloists: Elisabeth Breuer (soprano), Olivia Fermelen (mezzo-soprano), Daniel Johansen (tenor) and Thomas Bauer (baritone)
Ticket availability, dates and times of the concerts: www.jcamerata.com
This week, one of the most important musical events of the year is expected to take place in Israel: the Jerusalem Camerata Orchestra will host the Belgian conductor Philippe Herveghe, one of the leading conductors of the “periodical” stream of early music performance. This stream, also called the “authentic stream”, started about fifty years ago and set itself the goal of performing early music in a way that suits the style, instruments and performance practices that prevailed at the time it was composed.
The Welfare (76), a Flemish born in Ghent, is considered a conductor with an extraordinary biography. He studied medicine and psychiatry, and at the same time studied piano and later also harpsichord and organ. Later he abandoned the practice of medicine and made music the center of his professional life. He conducts not only the ensembles that play period instruments, but the orchestras that play “regular” instruments, similar to the Jerusalem Camerata. Among others, he conducted the Royal Concertgebouw Orchestra of the Netherlands, the Berlin Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic and more.
Hareuhe will come to Israel with the “Collegium Vocale Ghent” choir, which he founded as a student over fifty years ago. The choir became famous already in the 1970s, when it participated in a huge project of performing all of Bach’s cantatas, conducted by Nicolaus Hernoncourt and Gustav Leonhardt – one of the founders of the “periodic” movement. Since the recording of the choir under the direction of Fazaha, dozens of excellent recordings, many of which, like the two recordings they made of Bach’s “Matthews Passion”, are still considered revered masterpiece albums.
Along with the choir, four excellent soloists will also participate in the concert, all of whom come from abroad: soprano Elisabeth Breuer (Austria), mezzo-soprano Olivia Fermelen (Netherlands), tenor Daniel Johansen (Austria) and baritone singer Thomas Bauer (Germany).
The concert program includes three works. The first part of the evening will be dedicated to Beethoven, and the cantata “Quiet Sea and Successful Voyage” (written for choir and orchestra) and Symphony No. 1 by his pen will be performed. In the second part, the Mass in C minor (“The Great”), by Mozart, will be performed, a magnificent and impressive work that Mozart composed as a wedding gift to his wife Constance. Mozart did not have time to complete the work before its first performance in Salzburg, and unfortunately did not return to it after the premiere. However, even in its imperfect version it lasts about an hour and is considered one of the most important and beautiful masses in the classical repertoire.
The concert is highly recommended, both for the selection of the works and for the quality of the performers. This is a golden opportunity to hear a live performance of choral singing and soloists of the highest level available in the world today.