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(New York Jewish Week) —“However what may I do?”
Variations of this query are requested many times all through Polish playwright Tadeusz Słobodzianek’s “Our Class.” The play is impressed by the real-life 1941 pogrom within the small Polish village of Jedwabne, through which native residents murdered a whole bunch of their Jewish neighbors.
And now, at a time of rising antisemitism stemming from Israel’s warfare with Hamas, “Our Class” makes its New York premiere at Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Fisher Fishman Area.
“Our Class,” first produced in 2009, tracks 10 Jedwabne residents — half of them Jewish and half Catholic, with nearly all of the characters primarily based on actual individuals — from 1925 by the pogrom and past. The characters start as younger classmates, kids of 5 and 6 taking part in and studying collectively and dreaming of their futures. On this context, “However what may I do?” refers to innocent occasions, akin to one pupil silently standing by whereas one other is teased for his unrequited crush. As they attain younger maturity, the classmates are haplessly thrust into the roles of sufferer and perpetrator, and “However what may I do?” takes on a terrifying gravity.
That the murderers in “Our Class” had been carried out by Jews’ neighbors, relatively than occupying German Nazis, is what made director Igor Golyak so desperate to sort out Słobodzianek’s textual content.
“It was simply common individuals, similar to you and I, that might attain these heights of hate and discover a purpose to burn their neighbors,” Golyak, a Ukrainian Jew who immigrated to the USA on the age of 11, informed the New York Jewish Week.
Based mostly within the Boston space, Golyak is the founder and inventive director of Arlekin Gamers Theater, an organization made up of Jewish immigrants and refugees from Jap Europe devoted to presenting Russian theater. He’s gained acclaim lately for his digital theater work, together with “State vs. Natasha Banina,” which was a New York Occasions Critics Choose, and “chekhovOS/an experimental recreation/,” starring Mikhail Baryshnikov and Jessica Hecht.
When Golyak and his artistic workforce first learn “Our Class” collectively in Could 2023, they drew comparisons to the continued warfare in Ukraine. What they couldn’t have anticipated was how Hamas’ Oct. 7 terrorist assault on Israel, and its aftermath that has included each a warfare in Gaza and world shows of antisemitism, have recast Słobodzianek’s play in a brand new gentle.
“It feels very pressing, prefer it’s one other recognition of the significance of not forgetting the antisemitism and hate that sadly exists on the planet,” Golyak mentioned. “We expect this lies asleep on the planet tradition. However it’s a very gentle sleeper.”
The Jedwabne pogrom was thrust into the highlight in 2001 with the publication of Jan T. Gross’ guide “Neighbors.” Gross, a professor of historical past at Princeton College, found that regardless of public notion — and even a memorial in Jedwabne — the bloodbath of the village’s 1,600 Jews didn’t occur by the arms of the Nazis. Somewhat, it was the native Catholic Polish inhabitants who took the initiative in torturing, murdering and burning alive their neighbors. Gross’ revelation led Poland’s president, Aleksander Kwasniewski to apologize to the worldwide Jewish group in 2001, although some Poles remained in denial. A decade later, on the seventieth anniversary of the bloodbath, Polish President Bronislaw Komorowski requested for forgiveness once more.
Extra not too long ago, nevertheless, the Polish authorities has adopted an official stance of denial, vigorously rejecting any claims of native complicity within the Nazi marketing campaign in opposition to the Jews, which left 90% of Polish Jews useless.
Alexandra Silber, a Jewish actress with a ream of Broadway and West Finish credit who’s taking part in the a part of Jewish classmate Rachelka, has additionally felt the tenor of the play shift because the occasions of Oct 7. “It’s made it horrifying and related in a brand new method,” she mentioned. “I felt actually referred to as upon by Rachelka to serve her. I’ve so much to say on her behalf.”
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Rachelka is one in every of a handful of Jewish characters in “Our Class” who aren’t killed within the pogrom. Certainly one of her Polish classmates hides her away and finally marries her. She converts to Catholicism and adjustments her identify. Like with every of the ten classmates, Rachelka’s journey raises its personal questions.
“Is it higher to outlive?” displays Silber. “Rachelka’s Jewishness, her Jewish identify, her Jewish soul departs, and he or she has to reside as a brand new particular person. Each single factor about her survivor’s life doesn’t resemble who she started as, and is that higher?”
Alongside Silber, the forged is made up of actors hailing from New York, Los Angeles, Ukraine and Russia, and consists of each Jewish artists and a few with Polish roots. “We’ve actually created an unbelievable range of humanity in our group of 10,” Silber mentioned.
Golyak provides that after the Oct. 7 assault, the forged got here collectively in a sequence of discussions. “We now have forged members and workforce members, designers, that had been personally affected by Oct. 7 due to family members and associates which have really been murdered,” he mentioned. “So it’s been a really, very private journey.”
Whereas “Our Class” dives deeply into its difficult material, it’s not with out its moments of levity.
“I’m looking for numerous humor on this play as a result of persons are humorous, and that’s what makes them people and humane,” Golyak mentioned. “We are able to relate to those that make errors and are typically humorous and typically awkward, and these persons are similar to us.”
New York audiences may have the possibility to see themselves most clearly within the character of Abram, the one one of many 10 classmates who left for the USA earlier than the 1941 pogrom. All through the play, Abram (performed by “Indecent” star Richard Topol) communicates together with his previous associates by letters, making an attempt to piece collectively the conflicting info he receives from the protection of his dwelling in New York.
Abram serves as a foil, a reminder of the fallibility and subjectivity of reminiscence. “We have to perceive this as individuals residing in America, separated by the ocean from evil,” Golyak mentioned. “The extra relatable Abram is, the extra we perceive that this evil is definitely nearer than we expect.”
Expertise has turn into a trademark of Golyak’s work, and this manufacturing makes use of gadgets akin to a pretend documentary film set — full with an onstage digital camera particular person — together with chalk drawings and projections, to reveal components of the characters’ journeys. He’s joined by a artistic workforce together with scenic designer Jan Pappelbaum, music director Lisa Gutkin, choreographer Or Schraiber, and plenty of extra.
“Our Class” raises numerous questions, however neither Słobodzianek nor Golyak are eager about providing easy solutions. However for the director, that’s exactly the purpose.
“It’s very troublesome to beat these huge occasions in a single’s life, and I’m undoubtedly not right here to evaluate who did the best factor or the flawed factor, as a result of I don’t understand how I’d act in these conditions,” Golyak mentioned. “However the great thing about this play is that it asks these questions.”
“Our Class” will likely be carried out by Feb. 4 at BAM’s Fisher Fishman area (321 Ashland Pl., Brooklyn). Tickets begin at $59.
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