Thought-provoking panels bookended a lively matinee of Kadimah Yiddish Theatre’s Yentl at JR's theatre visit

Panel discussions, award-winning theatre and bagels were enjoyed at the JR outing to Yentl last month. The performance of Kadimah Yiddish Theatre’s new adaptation of Isaac Bashevis Singer’s short story Yentl the Yeshiva Boy is currently running at Marylebone Theatre, direct from a sold-out run at Sydney Opera House. It proved a thoughtful and exciting day.

*(L-R) Aviva Dautch, Gary Abrahams, Elise Hearst, Genevieve Kingsford, Amy Hack, Ashley Margolis, Evelyn Krape*

The afternoon began with JR's executive director Aviva Dautch introducing a video message from Meirav Chen-Zamir, Singer’s granddaughter, who couldn't make the event in person due to the current conflict in the Middle East complicating travel from Israel. Her message, which was streamed in, was nonetheless a beautiful and illuminating tribute to Singer that got the programme off to a strong start. Live guests included actor Dame Maureen Lipman, whose husband Jack Rosenthal wrote the screenplay to the famous 1983 film adaptation; actor Allan Corduner, who starred in the film; and Sonia Gollance, a Yiddishist and scholar from UCL who gave us a brief overview of the 1975 Broadway version of the play. Lipman and Corduner doled out insightful process commentary and hilarious backstage tales about diva Barbra Streisand, while Gollance’s presentation posed engaging questions about Yentl’s theatrical life, thematic material and past controversies to introduce the matinee performance of the play.

*Yentl by Kadimah Yiddish Theatre © Manuel Harlan*

Kadimah’s bilingual (English and Yiddish) production was a visceral and absorbing two hours that mixed traditional aesthetics with profoundly contemporary approaches. Four actors in white face paint and expressive costumes told the story of Yentl, a young woman with a passion for studying Torah who dons her father’s clothes following his death and enters yeshiva (Orthodox school teaching rabbinic literature and Jewish law) disguised as a man. As Yentl’s alter ego Anshel grows closer to study partner Avigdor and his ex-fiancee Hodes, secrets pile up in addition to dilemmas about identity, spirituality, gender and love. Under the direction of Gary Abrahams, who co-wrote this adaptation with Elise Hearst and Galit Klas, Singer’s story is given newfound vitality.

At the post-show discussion, Abrahams was joined onstage by Hearst and cast members Amy Hack (Yentl/Anshel), Genevieve Kingsford (Hodes), Ashley Margolis (Avigdor) and Evelyn Krape (The Figure and others), who is also Kadimah’s artistic director. They gave fascinating insight into the process of writing the play as well as performing it: most of the cast are not native Yiddish speakers, making the multilingual aspect all the more impressive. Margolis talked about joining the Australian company for the London run as the only Brit and how welcomed he's been made to feel. The panel also reflected on how well the show was received by Australian audiences and how London theatregoers would compare – so far the reception here seems to be very favourable indeed. Overall the afternoon’s offerings matched the show’s ability to look back at Yentl’s past while celebrating the present and future of Yiddish storytelling.

By Maia Kahn

Yentl runs until Sunday 12 April. 7.30pm, 2.30pm (Thu & Sat), 3pm (Sun only). From £25. Marylebone Theatre, London, NW1 6XT. marylebonetheatre.com

Join us at a future JR event; visit our events page to see what we've got coming up.

Read our review of Yentl.