Auditor’s Report Yirmi Amir / premiere
★★★★★
The start was promising. A red carpet greeted us at the entrance to the Tel Aviv Hall of Culture. On the carpet the actors marched in bright red, and we followed.
On the way to the hall we were given glasses of red wine, watched a dance performance and also received a brief philosophical enrichment about the meaning of life and human existence. So far definitely a slightly different experience in the theater.
Then came the main dish, for which we came: the play “The Unnecessary Man”, based on the Russian novel “Oblomov” by the Russian writer Ivan Goncharov. The play is staged in the Philharmonic’s rehearsal hall at the Hall of Culture.
The protagonist of the play, Oblomov (Alon Friedman) refuses to take part in the race of life, which includes career, family, financial success and self-fulfillment. What does he want? Lie in bed, dream and idle. He wants to get up and go to sleep. He can afford it. And if we dig a little deeper, the play tells the story of talented people, who do not realize their potential.
The show is tired and tiring, like the main protagonist, despite language and there are sparks of love and energy, relationships and violence. The play is bound by the concept of “artistic” and aesthetic directing and the actors cannot express their talents well. They remain distant from the crowd and fail to touch. A little real and strong emotion was not harmful.
Ezekiel Lazrov is a talented multidisciplinary artist who thinks differently and seeks original and creative ways for the audience. It’s beautiful, but the theatrical event he directed remains a stylized intellectual discourse. Without real drama.
The beautiful and bright red cover of “The Superfluous Man” further emphasizes the material paucity of the show. Of the remote text. Of the storm that does not erupt. And in one sentence: the greater the expectation, the greater the disappointment.