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Monday 23 May 2016

Bad Jews - a hilarious night at the theatre

Bad Jews is the first play I have seen at the Seymour Centre, a multi-purpose performing arts centre that is part of the Sydney Uni complex on City Road in Chippendale, Sydney.

I was privileged to attend on opening night. I'm not sure if Bad Jews should be described as a comedy, dramatic comedy, or a comedic drama, but it was a funny, entertaining 90 minutes to see.

It must be pointed out that this is not a large musical theatre production with a cast of hundreds. The cast consists of only 4 actors. The only music in the show is when one of the characters sings an opera song, which is the worst rendition of a song I have heard, but is one of the funniest moments in the play.

Bad Jews is about 2 Jewish brothers, and their female Jewish cousin, who stay the night in a Manhattan apartment on the evening of their grandfathers funeral. The are joined by one of the brother's non-Jewish girlfriend. The 4 stereotyped characters are very different from each other to marked degrees, so they collide head on, resulting in a hilarious romp on stage.

The story revolves around who should inherit a treasured religious necklace the grandfather owned. It is revealed that he kept this out of sight for 2 years during the Holocaust by hiding it under his tongue.

The 4 talented Australian cast members handled the frivolity, tension, and drama of Bad Jews with great acting skill. They did a wonderful job of displaying the vast differences in each of their characters and the intertwining of their relationships with each other.

Matt Whitty plays the shy introverted Jonah, who lives in his small high-rise apartment. He loves spending time on his laptop computer and does not want to get involved with the discussion (or should it be referred to as a verbal fight?) of who gets the deceased grandfathers necklace. He excels with his wordless body and facial expressions as he responds to what he hears the others on stage say.

Maria Angelico plays his extrovert cousin Daphna, who has attended the funeral and come to stay the night. She is a "good" Jew, and arguing that she should get the necklace because she is more religious than the others. She is bossy, outspoken and makes her views known to the others, often without regard to their feelings.

Simon Corfield plays the wealthy man of the world Liam, Jonas's brother. He missed out on attending the funeral as he was skiing in Aspen with his girlfriend. (He dropped his phone in the snow so did not hear about the funeral in time.) He is a "bad" Jew as he does not do all that the religion requires. But he insists that his grandfather wants him to have the necklace.

Anna Burgess plays Liam's girlfriend Melody. In some ways she plays the dumb blonde, but in other ways she is more insightful than all the others.

The play is rather slow in taking off, as the first part is just 2 of the characters on stage as we come to terms with who they are. The pace picks up when all 4 of the character are on the stage. There are many laughs in this funny play as the 4 characters interact with each other.

The script is fast paced and very witty. However, as the play develops we learn that each of the characters has their not so nice side. This is both a good and bad aspect of Bad Jews. The characters are likeable, but also get to be irritating as the play progresses. They are too good at developing and maintaining their character throughout the play so that they tend to become tedious and a bit repetitious in what they say and do. Especially so with the outspoken and scheming Daphna. There are times when you feel like getting up on the stage and telling them to grow up and start behaving and being nice to each other. But then you remember that in reality most families have people in them like the characters in the play. Then there are the people like Jonah, who try and keep out of the big issues of life. You feel like saying to them to become more involved, express your opinions, your viewpoint is valuable too. Become involved in fighting for what you believe.

Amongst the laughs, we have to deal in our own minds who is deserving to get the necklace. Bad Jews is entertaining, but also thought provoking.

Even though Bad Jews revolves around who should inherit the family heirloom of grandfathers Chai necklace, it touches on much broader themes than that. Yes, the play is essentially a comedy, but it also concerns the serious issues of tradition, religion, family relationships, culture, diversity, change and acceptance. You do not have to be Jewish to see Bad Jews, as people of any or no faith will be able to relate to the themes and have a good laugh.

Perhaps a downfall of Bad Jews for Australian audiences is that it is an American play being performed in Australia. I wonder how Australian audiences would better react if the setting was changed to an Australian Jewish family in a high rise apartment overlooking Sydney Harbour.

This production of Bad Jews is directed by Gary Abrahams. He has skilfully highlighted the hilarious moments of the production with the serious undertones of its themes, so that different sections of the audience laughs out loud whilst other grimace at what they see and hear. The audience can not help but react to what they see and hear on stage.

The action of bad Jews takes place in the one apartment setting on stage that doesn't change throughout the show. Perhaps the only downfall with the set is with the lighting. The stage is very well lit, but I felt there is too much lighting on all the time in the apartment. It is all very bright and glarey. Perhaps the lights in the kitchenette section of the apartment could have been switched off when it was not being used. It was a pity that the front section of the stage was not utilised. Perhaps some of the acting could have been done there to bring the action of the play closer to the audience, such as when Melody sang her opera number.

Bad Jews has just been staged in Melbourne, and is now in Sydney for a limited time before it moves onto Brisbane and Perth. It is well worth while seeing if you wanting a fun night out and a lots of good laughs.