Lesbians? Nothing shocking about them

By Eva Trieger

Eva Trieger
Eva Trieger

LA JOLLA, California — The strains of violin, clarinet and accordion set a reminiscent and inviting tone for this play.  The set of the Mandel Weiss Forum was fairly simplistic with English and Yiddish subtitles projected over stage, creating an esoteric sensibility in the viewer.   Spirited dancing accompanied the music as characters were introduced.

Yekel Shepsovitch, a religious Jew and brothel owner (seeing an oxymoron?), lives above his place of business where he is saving his daughter, Rivkele, for the son of a rabbi.  However, his agenda implodes when his virginal girl falls for a prostitute from downstairs.  The final scene of the original play evinces the pain of a father casting off his daughter and the Torah.

This piece of theater and familial mayhem was embraced by European audiences from France to Russia.  However, when the company immigrated to America, the audiences were not enchanted.  They were horrified, offended, and under charges filed by Rabbi Silverman of New York, the play was shut down and the cast arrested for obscenity.

I understand that for a story that began in 1907 and spanned the next five decades the topic of lesbianism was novel and shocking.  As a viewer in 2015, I did not find the content riveting nor compelling.

Ultimately, I found the show redundant and the characters less than authentic.  The fault, if there is one, lies not with the actors, but with a script that I found repetitive and simplistic.  While I believe certain scenes sought depth, I did not feel a connection between the characters nor a commitment to their lines.  Again, I am not commenting on the acting, but on the script with which they worked.

The show is based on the actual story of Sholem Asch’s play, God of Vengeance, a 1922 Broadway debut.  Co-created by Paula Vogel and Rebecca Taichman, Indecent tells the tale of an “incendiary work, the artists who risked their careers and lives to perform it, and the community that inspired its creation.”

I found myself grushering (Yiddish for twisting or struggling) with the fact that in several places I felt that the play equated lesbianism with Judaism because both were less visible minorities among their non-Jewish audiences.  The major complaints came from American Jews who did not want to invite any more anti-Semitic feeling than was already present.

Paula Vogel and Rebecca Taichman collaborated to bring this story to the stage and from their initial meeting, knew that they were like-minded in their vision of creating this “play about a play…that covers a wide swath of Jewish history and American Jewish History.”

I admired the artistic aspects of the production, and I am a huge fan of the beautiful theatrical spaces that La Jolla Playhouse has envisioned and given birth to, yet, I must be honest.  I think this play might have been better titled “A Shonda.”  Yes, the acting was good.  Yes, the scenery was creative.  And, yes, the production was artistically produced.  For this reviewer, it was the script that tipped the scales.

Tickets:  858.550.1010  or LaJollaPlayhouse.org

Indecent runs until December 10

*
Trieger is a freelance writer who specializes in coverage of the arts.  She may be contacted via eva.trieger@sdjewishworld.com.  Any comments in the space below should include the writer’s full name and city and state of residence, or city and country for non-U.S. residents.