A theatre friend once told me that Fiddler on the Roof is one of the most popular plays in….. Japan! Why, you might wonder, would a play about a Jewish family in a shtetl resonate so greatly in Japan? And the answer is that traditional families empathise with the way the new generations are challenging their traditions and their way of life.
Faygele is a new play that has just opened at London’s Marylebone Theatre. It is set within an orthodox Jewish community but here the comparison to Fiddler ends. It tells a very different story that hopes to resonate with people – not just Jews – across the world. This play, despite having moments of levity, is a serious, tragic, cautionary tale.
Faygele is the story of a family in orthodox New York and centres around the son Ari, played by Ilan Galkoff. It is Ari’s barmitzvah day, and as he poses for photographs, his father, played by Ben Caplan, accuses him of looking like a faygele – someone who is gay, which is a totally unacceptable way to be in their deeply religious community.
The play is based on a true story, which makes it all the more shocking. Set in the present, at times the play makes uncomfortable viewing, as we see the conflict unfolding as Ari becomes a teenager.
The characters in the play are familiar to a Jewish audience. Ilan is wonderfully cast as Ari, the charming and personal young man. Andrew Paul brings a huge amount of sensitivity to his role as Rabbi Lev and Clara Francis powerfully portrays Ari’s mother, who is torn between her love for her son and her need to placate her overbearing and demanding husband. Ben Caplan is convincing as the bullying patriarch. Yiftach Mizrachi plays Sammy Stein, an orthodox Jew who left his wife and four children to come out as gay, and his role adds another dimension to the story as the roles are reversed and he uses a rabbinic parable to speak to the rabbi.
Ilan Galkoff as Ari. Photo: Jane Hobson
Faygele is a harsh indictment of the charedi community, depicting the downtrodden wife with eleven children (and one on the way), the intransigent father and the lost son whose only crime is to not conform to the norm.
The play may be set in a Jewish community, but its story resonates for people from other faiths, who too are bound by their beliefs and traditions and the judgement of their peers.
Faygele is playwright Shimmy Braun’s first play, and it is deeply personal. The story in many respects mirrors his own experiences as a religious Jew, married with four children, who came out as gay. He wrote Faygele to make audiences more aware of other people’s situations, to encourage compassion and kindness, and, perhaps most importantly, so that the Aris of this world would know they are not alone.
As I looked around the theatre, and saw tears glistening on people’s cheeks, others reaching for a tissue, it is fair to say that Shimmy’s message does indeed touch the emotions of his audiences.
After the performance I spoke to audience members, including some who were gay, Jewish and religious. It was sad to hear that they could empathise with the story of Faygele because for them it took tremendous courage to come out as gay. Non-Jewish gay audience members were deeply moved by the story; many felt they could empathise with Ari’s experience, but were shocked by the hardline attitudes of his family.
One leaves the theatre reflecting how sad it is that this tale is set not in the last century, but in the present day, and what is played out as fiction on stage is tragically true in real life.
Faygele is at the Marylebone Theatre until May 31. marylebonetheatre.com
