Israel
Theater "Gesher" (translated from Hebrew as "Bridge") was established in 1991 at the very beginning of the mass repatriation from the former Soviet Union to Israel, and very soon became a leader in the Israeli theatrical process.
In 1990, a group of young actors - students of the director Evgeny Arye, together with their teacher, came to Israel. Here they were joined by several repatriates - actors from Moscow, Leningrad and Riga theaters.
The theater opened with a performance of one of the most difficult plays in the modern repertoire - "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead" by T. Stoppard in translation by Ioann Stoppard. Stoppard's "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead" translated by Joseph Brodsky. Despite the fact that the play was played in Russian, it immediately became a sensation of the Israeli theater season and received a huge amount of praise. A few months later, the theater was invited to the United States for the prestigious BAM Theater Festival in New York, where even the demanding critics of leading American publications spared no words of praise for it. The newspaper "Independent" wrote: «Arye's play is a masterpiece of European level. The actors are excellent.» The New York Times described "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern" as follows: «A fresh, dynamic production full of vivid imagination.»
In the year of establishment of the theater Russian-speaking community in Israel numbered about 400 thousand people. The theater immediately began to look for ways not to remain, albeit interesting, but a marginal phenomenon in Israeli culture. Already a year later, "Gesher" began to play in Hebrew. For several years, many of the theater's productions were created in two language versions - Russian and Hebrew. It was a unique and very risky experiment, but it was an undeniable success. "Gesher" is probably the only theater in the world where the same company, the same cast of artists works in two languages.
Looking ahead, let us say that over the years the theater has been joined by native Israelis - graduates of Israeli theater schools. And, just as the "Russian" artists perform their roles in Hebrew, so the natives of Israel play in Russian.
The theater attaches great importance to the choice of dramaturgical material. Over the past years, its repertoire has included plays based on Russian classics such as "The Idiot", "The River" based on A. N. Ostrovsky's "Without a dowry", "Three Sisters", "At the Bottom", as well as European classics ("Tartuffe" and "Don Juan" by Moliere, "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by W. Shakespeare, "Fr. Shakespeare, "Fräuken Julie" by A. Strindberg, "The Sea" based on "The Kyodzha Tangles", "Treachery and Love" by F. Schiller, "The Threepenny Opera" by B. Brecht, etc.).
The theater has produced several plays based on works by Israeli authors. Two of them take a special place among them: "The Village" and "Adam the Son of a Dog".
"Adam - the Son of a Dog" is one of the brightest experimental productions of "Gesher". The play was written by A. Chervinsky based on the novel by the largest Israeli writer Yoram Kaniuk. This play about the fate of a Jewish clown, who survived the Shoah, is performed not in a theater hall, but in the arena, under the dome of a circus-shapito. For ten years, on the eve of the annual Day of the Shoah of European Jewry, a circus tent has been set up in Tel Aviv, and every year, when the performance is renewed, Evgeny Arye edits it, adding new details and colors. And always the circus is full to capacity. This performance was performed with great success at festivals in Vienna, Berlin, New York and Basel.
"Village" is a landmark performance of "Gesher", which most fully expresses the main idea of the theater, the idea of a "bridge" between cultures. It is a touching, funny and pinching play about the life of a small Jewish settlement in Palestine in the 40s. "Village" was awarded five prizes of the Israeli Theater Academy - including for best play, best director - E. Arye, best male role - I. Demidov. In 1997 in London "Village" was nominated for the prize for the best touring performance in the English capital, and I.Demidov was nominated for the title of the best foreign actor.
The theater experiments in different genres - from tragedy to musical. The highlight of the 2000 season was the musical "The Devil in Moscow" based on M. Bulgakov's novel "The Master and Margarita". One of the most famous Jewish actors, Haim Topol, who became famous for his role as Tevye-the-milkman in the famous movie-musical "Fiddler on the Roof", was invited to play the role of Voland.
A special place in the repertoire is occupied by plays on Jewish themes - "The Dreyfus Affair", "The City", "Slave", "Shosha" and others.
In the play "The City" based on "Odessa Stories" and the play "Sunset" Gesher revitalized the motley world of Babel's heroes. The English Guardian wrote: "In "The City" there is a meeting of "Fiddler on the Roof" and "The Threepenny Opera". The production of "Gesher" is full of color, its characters are charming and irresistible." "The City" was seen in the United States, Britain, Germany, Paris, Moscow and everywhere it received the highest praise from audiences and critics.
In recent years, "Gesher" has turned to the work of Nobel Prize winner Isaac Bashevis-Zinger. One after the other, the theater has produced two productions based on his novels, "Slave" and "Shosha".
"Slave" is a story about the tragic love of two people belonging to different worlds, religion and culture. This poetic play, a parable about the power of love against monstrous circumstances, won five prizes from the Theater Academy of Israel, the country's highest theater award, including Best Play, Best Director (Yevgeny Arye), and Best Actress (Yevgeny Dodina). Encouraged by the success of "Slave", the theater turned to another work by Bashevis Zinger - "Shosha". Another era, other characters, other collisions and historical background. Warsaw in the late thirties, over which the shadow of Hitler was already looming. But the same heat of passion, the same problem of personal choice of a man in exceptional circumstances.
"Gesher" is an author's theater: the vast majority of performances are staged by its artistic director Yevgeny Arye. Yevgeny Arye is a pupil of Tovstonogov, before leaving for Israel he worked at the BDT, the Maly Drama Theater, the Mayakovsky Theater in Moscow, and staged plays in many other theaters. Among the "founders" of "Gesher" are several of his students.
"Gesher" tours extensively abroad. The theater has successfully performed at festivals in Berlin and Avignon, Paris and London, Rome and Melbourne, New York and Washington, Dublin and Zurich, Basel and Warsaw. The British newspaper "Evening Standard" called "Gesher" "an outstanding theater that enjoys worldwide recognition".
The Times of London wrote: "Gesher" belongs among the most remarkable theater groups in the world. "New York Times" gave such an assessment of the theater: "Gesher" - a living theater, full of creative energy, its strong, expressive ensemble plays with true passion, easily overcoming cultural and linguistic barriers".
Today, it is impossible to imagine theater life in Israel without "Gesher". When speaking about the contribution of repatriates to Israeli culture, first of all "Gesher" is mentioned.
At the Fifth International Theater Festival "Alexandrinsky" theater "Gesher" presented the play "Enemies. LOVE STORY" by I. Bashevis-Zinger directed by Evgeny Arye (September 24 and 25, 2010).
The article uses materials published on the official website of the "GESHER" Theater.
