Film Presentation & Screening

The Dybbuk / Between Two Worlds

A Presentation and Screening of The Dybbuk / Between Two Worlds by S. Ansky. An Israeli production using traditional Japanese theatre aesthetics. In Hebrew with English subtitles, 120 min., with a short introduction, followed by a Q&A session.

_{Date & Time}
Friday, July 30, 1.30 – 5.00 pm (break: 3.00 - 3.30 pm)

_{Venue & Room}
LMU main building, Geschwister-Scholl-Platz 1, Room 3 (A 119)

_Speaker
Zvika Serper, Tel Aviv University, Director, Israel:

_{Further Information}
Adaptation by Zvika Serper and Carol Fisher Sorgenfrei
Based on Chaim Nachman Bialik's Hebrew translation with additional material adapted from Bialik's poetry
Director and Choreographer: Zvika Serper
Composer and Musical Director: Ofer Ben-Amots
English Subtitles: Carol Fisher Sorgenfrei

The Dybbuk / Between Two Worlds portrays a phantasmagorical old world steeped in religious piety and occultism, where the normative boundaries that separate the living and the dead, male and female, are dissolved, and the frenzied desires of flesh and spirit fuse. Its tragic love story arises from the everlasting potency of an unfulfilled oath, and culminates in the transmigration of the pained soul of the dead Chanan, a young religious scholar immersed in Kabbalah, into the living body of Leah, his beloved. Now joined in a single body, the living bride and the rebellious spirit of the rejected groom fight the forces of family, tradition, life and even holy Jewish law in order to spend eternity together.

This very famous Jewish play, written by S. Ansky in Yiddish nearly a century ago, shares many dramatic patterns that correspond to the dramatic patterns of traditional Japanese theatre: reincarnations of dead people, souls tormented by unfulfilled desires, the entering of such souls into the bodies of living people, and people who depart for the world of the dead to join their loved ones.

Many artistic techniques and aesthetic notions in this production ensue from the Japanese theatre tradition. But rather than intending to create a Japanese Dybbuk, the creators of the production employ certain Japanese principles, creatively blending them with Jewish elements, like levels of style in the actor’s voice work, from realistic through stylized speech, mixing of speech and chanting along with prose and poetry, or various modes of movement on stage. The acting style is based on a direct approach to the audience, on front positioning and stylized movement. Special emphasis is given to props and costume. Props often change identity in order to activate the spectator’s imagination, and costume not only serves as a garment to cover the actor’s body, but also to create a pattern stressing body-movement that integrates with the visual style of the play, to dramatically externalize inner, soul actions. In such a way, this production manifests the potential and importance of interweaving Japanese traditional theater and drama in contemporary international performing arts, while concomitantly enabling an exploration of the timeless and universal theme of this important Jewish play.

In the introduction, Zvika Serper will analyze several of the Japanese dramatic and theatrical elements used in the production including structure, spatial design, vocal expression, combinations of various forms of movement, and the theatrical employment of costumes and props to create and amplify meaning.

The play was originally performed at Tel Aviv University in 2002. This video recording of the production has been screened over a dozen times at major universities and venues in the United States. This is the first screening of the production in Europe.