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A skilled tale of possession
THE DEAD FIDDLER
New End Theatre
The New End Theatre’s production of Isaac Bashevis Singer’s story The Dead Fiddler is a fascinating depiction of the world of a 19th century Jewish sthtetl in Poland. This small community is cast into turmoil by the possession of a 17-year-old girl by a dybbuk, a spirit of a deceased fiddler named Getsel. The people of the shtetl find themselves intrigued with the stories the spirit tells them of his ill-spent life. The situation is complicated by a second spirit possessing the girl, this dybbuk being that of a dead prostitute who competes for space with the fiddler.
David Zoob’s theatrical adaptation of Singer’s story is both inventive and wonderfully executed. He has used actors that are skilled musicians, and they regularly punctuate their performances with bursts of Klezmer music, the folk songs of Jewish Eastern Europe. These are more than simple musical interludes, serving as a reflection of the mood and actions taking place on stage.
The multi-talented cast is uniformly strong, but the standout role is the dual one of the possessed girl and the dybbuk that inhabits her. This is done in a wonderfully fluid way, with Lydia Baksh’s Liebe Yentl mouthing the words spoken by Ezra Hjalmarsson’s Getsl, the two mimicking their movements to give a wholly convincing depiction of possession. Hjalmarsson is excellent, a mocking imp that takes delight in creating chaos and discord among the shtetl community.
Along with his mischief, Getsel also exposes the hypocrisy of the supposedly pious, and his stories clearly draw the townsfolk away from their religious practices. This production, with its superbly atmospheric stage design, brilliantly evokes the image of a community rooted in tradition that is disrupted by a captivatingly anarchic force.
Until May 21
0870 033 2733
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