Sydney Reviews

This much is true: Do go into Yentl for that good night.

Based on Isaac Bashevis Singer’s brilliant short story, Yentl, The Yeshiva Boy, writers Gary Abrahams, Elise Hearst and Galit Klas have fashioned a fabulous theatrical event, true to its source material, made vibrant flesh and fresh by an outstanding cast and imaginative production values.

Culturally specific yet universal, set in the past but still so pertinent, Yentl is the story of a girl who laps up facts and theories like a thirsty horse at a stream. Yet that stream is stemmed for females, the river of knowledge dammed, her fervent and devout desire to study the scriptures deemed the domain of males only. What did she expect from a religion and culture that has men pray to God thanking them they were not born female?

So she does the only thing a thoughtful, reasonable, curious and questing person can do – disguise herself as a male and deal with the consequences, confusions, deceits and taboos. Those complexities include a friendship with fellow scholar, Avigdor, and an infatuation by Avigdor’s former fiance, Hodes.

Yiddish is at the heart of this astute adaptation which is presented in English and Yiddish with surtitles. A Kadimah Yiddish Theatre production, Yentl is situated within the Yiddish theatre movement that integrated folklore with the avant gard European theatre and innovatively and provocatively tackles the conflicts that arise when tradition collides with modernity.

Amy Hack is superb as Yentl, the brave, rebellious, pious and curious woman enraptured by study and learning, an intellectual gladiator with a philosophical fervour and theological thoughts of forked lightning.

Evelyn Krape as “The Figure”, part narrator, trickster, tempter, moral sextant and conscience compass. Part chorus, part clown, an all-encompassing performance, a dazzling display of comic finesse, the kind of exemplary exhibition you’d expect from such an experienced performer.

Nicholas Jaquinot as Avigdor is, to begin with, an attractive and lively character, until meshuga misogyny and male chauvinism rise from his traditional male mindset.

Genevieve Kingsford as Hodes is achingly wholesome, hurt by love but determined to be happy by giving happiness, happy to go with flow of the status quo.

Set and costume design by Dann Barber is exquisite with its black soil, rocks and bulrushes, scrim curtain, nook and cranny crevices creating a blatant theatricality, enhanced by Rachel Burke’s lighting design which adds further emphasis on clarity, focus and atmosphere.

Directed by co writer, Gary Abrahams, Yentl is built on the four pillars of theatre – engaging, enriching, enlightening and entertaining.