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3.8 AVERAGE
3.8 AVERAGE
I know I’m a convert but this is genuinely one of the world’s classic plays. This edition features a modern, informative introduction by Richard Marx.
Like so many others, I was very predictable and got this after I saw Indecent on Broadway. I also felt guilty for being a bad Jew and not reading a classic (which also marked the first lesbian kiss on Broadway) written by one of my own peeps.
It's so interesting going into it knowing how it ends. You notice things along the way. It's also interesting when one knows from Indecent that the translation was a big deal because when the show moves to Broadway a scene was omitted that changed the context for one of the characters, i.e. - the famous rain scene.
And so when I purchased it I was racking my brain, trying to figure out how to find an accurate translation and to be honest, to this moment I'm not sure I did.
This translation is from circa 1918, and if IBDB is to be believed, was also used as the book for the B'way show way back when. If that's the case then it's probably true that I read an adjusted version.
Indecent teaches you that Sholom Ash approved the translation, not really knowing what he was approving due to lack of understanding of the English language.
That famous rain scene was a way of establishing that Manke really did love Rifkele and wasn't just scheming and using her.
Reading this, you can understand exactly where Dorothee Nolan, who played Manke, was coming from when she protested the absence of the scene.
And so reading this, I can't help but sense something is missing or at the very least wonder which version did our Indecent people quote on their show. The rain scene doesn't really appear as a rain scene here, it's more that the two women are discussing the fact that they *were* just outside in the rain. And while the text is quite suggestive for the time, some of the more suggestive sentences that were on Indecent are missing, making one wonder. Because with the fate that then befalls Rifkele, it really does seem like Manke was taking advantage of her. All of the above makes you realize just how thorough the research for Indecent must have been.
As a creation on its own, you gotta appreciate how trailblazing it is. And indeed Indecent teaches us that not all in the Jewish community were supportive of the story. Not when instead of a righteous Jew, we get a brothel owner, and not when the pure daughter falls for a woman who also happens to be a whore.
But it does a fine job of showing that there are people of all sorts, and the kind of downfall that can come upon a person if said person spends hers/his entire life in a bit of a seclusion. There are many stories about religious people who are being shielded from the world and what sort of a shock it is when they finally find out what's out there. Not all adjust well, and this is maybe a very sad example of that.
To be honest, I could've explored this world of a Jewish European town in the early 1900s and its hypocrisies and its peoples passions and do and donts even further which says a lot because it's already a three act play.
Anyway, when Indecent comes out on Broadway HD in January, you really should watch it.
It's so interesting going into it knowing how it ends. You notice things along the way. It's also interesting when one knows from Indecent that the translation was a big deal because when the show moves to Broadway a scene was omitted that changed the context for one of the characters, i.e. - the famous rain scene.
And so when I purchased it I was racking my brain, trying to figure out how to find an accurate translation and to be honest, to this moment I'm not sure I did.
This translation is from circa 1918, and if IBDB is to be believed, was also used as the book for the B'way show way back when. If that's the case then it's probably true that I read an adjusted version.
Indecent teaches you that Sholom Ash approved the translation, not really knowing what he was approving due to lack of understanding of the English language.
That famous rain scene was a way of establishing that Manke really did love Rifkele and wasn't just scheming and using her.
Reading this, you can understand exactly where Dorothee Nolan, who played Manke, was coming from when she protested the absence of the scene.
And so reading this, I can't help but sense something is missing or at the very least wonder which version did our Indecent people quote on their show. The rain scene doesn't really appear as a rain scene here, it's more that the two women are discussing the fact that they *were* just outside in the rain. And while the text is quite suggestive for the time, some of the more suggestive sentences that were on Indecent are missing, making one wonder. Because with the fate that then befalls Rifkele, it really does seem like Manke was taking advantage of her. All of the above makes you realize just how thorough the research for Indecent must have been.
As a creation on its own, you gotta appreciate how trailblazing it is. And indeed Indecent teaches us that not all in the Jewish community were supportive of the story. Not when instead of a righteous Jew, we get a brothel owner, and not when the pure daughter falls for a woman who also happens to be a whore.
But it does a fine job of showing that there are people of all sorts, and the kind of downfall that can come upon a person if said person spends hers/his entire life in a bit of a seclusion. There are many stories about religious people who are being shielded from the world and what sort of a shock it is when they finally find out what's out there. Not all adjust well, and this is maybe a very sad example of that.
To be honest, I could've explored this world of a Jewish European town in the early 1900s and its hypocrisies and its peoples passions and do and donts even further which says a lot because it's already a three act play.
Anyway, when Indecent comes out on Broadway HD in January, you really should watch it.
emotional
sad
tense
medium-paced
I am always on the lookout for books that bring the world of my grandparents closer to me. I didn't expect that to include lesbian lovers, but so much the better. I only knew my grandparents from the 1960's onward, when they were relatively Americanized (although one pair spoke only Yiddish and never did learn English) but I can imagine them in a similar setting, minus the brothel (or so I assume). I'd love to see it performed/interpreted by a Jewish theater today. (I'd also love to see it as a performance billed as Fiddler on the Roof, then sprung on the unsuspecting audience ;)
Update: PBS has a streaming video of the Broadway play 'Indecent', which is sort of a meta version of the play - it's a play about the play, so it gives a general sense of what the original was about while recounting its reception. I think it did a good job on the themes in the play, but I'd still like to see a faithful performance of the original, set in the original time period - especially in light of today's growing antisemitism and the conflicting identities of Jews today.
Update: PBS has a streaming video of the Broadway play 'Indecent', which is sort of a meta version of the play - it's a play about the play, so it gives a general sense of what the original was about while recounting its reception. I think it did a good job on the themes in the play, but I'd still like to see a faithful performance of the original, set in the original time period - especially in light of today's growing antisemitism and the conflicting identities of Jews today.