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January 28, 2011
Asher Lev is in town
Pacific Theatre undertakes Potok story.
TOVA G. KORNFELD
Pacific Theatre, a faith-based, funky, little theatre housed in the basement of Holy Trinity Anglican Church at the corner of West 12th Avenue and Hemlock Street in Vancouver, is taking on the daunting task of presenting the Canadian première of Aaron Posner’s adaptation of Chaim Potok’s 1972 novel My Name is Asher Lev.
The play is the coming-of-age story of a young boy, Asher, who happens to be a Chassid living in Brooklyn. It is told in first person, narrated by the adult protagonist, a famous artist who begins by telling us that, “Torah Jews do not become painters.” Flashbacks are then used to present the story of his journey to success, starting from the age of six, when he first began to paint.
Asher struggles against the constraints of his religious upbringing and the expectations of his parents, particularly those of his father, who is an envoy for the Ladover Rebbe, travelling throughout Europe to bring Yiddishkeit back to the decimated Jewish populations of the Old World. His father sees his son’s artwork as morally blind, while Asher perceives his father as esthetically blind.
Morris Ertman, artistic director of Alberta’s Rosebud Theatre, has directed and/or designed for most of the major theatre companies in Canada, including the Stratford Festival, the National Arts Centre and the Vancouver Opera. He is at the helm of the Pacific Theatre production and finds special meaning in Potok’s story.
“I read it years ago and was deeply moved by it,” Ertman told the Independent. “I relate to it because it is very much my story. I was expected to follow my parents’ wishes and become a minister, but instead followed my passion for theatre, just like Asher followed his passion for art, contrary to his family’s wishes. And both of us were vindicated in our ultimate choices by the recognition we received for our respective successes. I have recently read the sequel, The Gift of Asher Lev, and enjoyed that even more, as it speaks to Asher’s life upon his return to Brooklyn 20 years after the end of the original story.”
Ertman is not Jewish, yet regularly gets the call to direct the Jewish-based plays at Pacific Theatre. He directed The Quarrel in 2007 and Holy Mo in 2008, both of which were reviewed in the Independent.
For Asher Lev, Ertman said, “I used Howard Siegel, who has acted at Pacific Theatre before, as my technical advisor on Jewish matters. But I must say that I do not really see this necessarily as a ‘Jewish play.’ At first blush, it does seem parochial, but it really speaks to universal themes we all experience: family, love, rebellion against parental authority, and the searches for truth and self-identity. You do not have to be Jewish to appreciate the message of the play.”
Expanding on that point, Ertman described the essence of the play as being “the fact that there are those among us who have been given gifts by G-d, who are compelled to do something to realize those gifts, even when it hurts our religious traditions and beliefs and our families.”
Another aspect of Asher Lev to which Ertman connects is the time period in which it is set: in mid-1950s New York, just a few years removed from the Holocaust and during the midst of Stalin’s purge of the intelligentsia of Russian Jewry. Explained Ertman, “That resonated personally with me, as my grandparents were persecuted in Russia for their religious beliefs as German Baptists and shipped to Siberia.”
Both the set and the cast for the Pacific Theatre production will be sparse. Ertman said the set will be “very stark and simple, a hand scrawled on the centre of a wooden floor with an articulating window that will frame various scenes and that will also serve as Asher’s easel.” And only three actors will make up the cast, with two taking on multiple parts: Giovanni Mocibob plays Asher, complete with payot (sidelocks); Nathan Schmidt plays the roles of Aryeh (the father), the Ladover Rebbe, Jacob Kahn and Yitzchok (the uncle); and Katharine Venour plays Rivkah (the mother), Anna (the curator) and the nude model.
When asked why people should come and see the play, Ertman said, “They should come because it is the beautiful and powerful story of a family’s love and how that love tears them apart and yet still holds them together, something we can all relate to regardless of ethnicity. A Talkin’ Broadway reviewer declared it, ‘Ninety fast-moving minutes that sparkle with life.’”
My Name is Asher Lev runs from Jan. 28-Feb. 26. For tickets and information, visit pacifictheatre.org or call 604-731-5518.
Tova Kornfeld is a local writer and lawyer.
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