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A History of The Folksbiene
In My Father's Court
By Isaac Bashevis Singer
1971-1972 Season
Folksbiene Playhouse
175 East Broadway
New York, NY
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From right: Mina Kern, Marilyn Gold and
Zypora Spaisman.
Courtesy of YIVO
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From right: Ben Feivelowitz, Ely Arnou,
Joshua Zeldis, Elias Patron,
Matys Steinbuch, Moishe Rosenfeld, Morris Adler and Jacob Ben-Ami.
Courtesy of YIVO
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| A review from the New York
Times, November 12, 1971:
Singer Memoir Staged by the
Folksbiene
by Richard F. Shepard
A mellow memoir about
early-century Warsaw Jewry by Isaac Bashevis Singer has been
beautifully brought from printed page to Yiddish stage by the
Folksbiene Playhouse, New York's oldest (fifty-seven years)
repertory theatre.
"In My Father's Court" is one of
the most satisfying things to come across the Yiddish footlights
in some time, and the Folksbiene, technically an amateur
company, has used its large and thoroughly professional cast to
highest purpose.
The play takes place in one room,
the room in the Singer household where Isaac's father, a pious
and upright rabbi, presided in the days before and during World
War I, kibitzing cronies and dispensing sage and often vital
advice on love, marriage, emigration, business and interfaith
relations to the men and women, the beggars and thieves who
needed it.
The presentation, directed by
David Licht, is a series of vignettes, all done with passion and
sympathy for the beset rabbi, played with restrained but very
human dignity by Jacob Ben-Ami. In one scene, he assigns a
penance to a woman who is in agony because years earlier she had
left her illegitimate child at a church to be raised as a
Christian. The woman is interpreted with shattering emotion by
Berta Gersten.
There were so many good
performances -- all of them -- from Marilyn Gold, a girl who
does well as the young Isaac, to Joshua Zeldis as the garrulous
old man who measures life in terms of his old, small hometown,
that it is impossible to single out more than these few.
"In My Father's Court" will be
running weekends, and a day or a night in court is very much in
order for Yiddish theatre enthusiasts. |
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Theatre
still
Courtesy of the Museum of the City of New York
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The Cast of Characters: |
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The Synopsis: |
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The
play consists of eight vignettes depicting life just
before and during World War l in the Jewish quarter
of Warsaw. The scene is the Jewish court and home
of I.B. Singer's father, Rabbi Pinkhas Menakhem.
In addition to the Rabbi, the main characters that
figure in the scenes are Bath-Sheva, his wife, his
older son, Israel-Joshua and younger son, Isaac, the
author.
The rabbi, and
his hangers-on, Chaim Gorshkower, a poor man who has
children in America, Moshe Bababa and Moshe Blecher
are singing the Sabbath out. Suddenly Mirele, the
bagel seller, comes in and amazes everyone by
telling them that Reb Zishele and his wife of many,
many years want a divorce. The rabbi sends for the
old couple and we discover that Rivka, the wife,
wants her husband to divorce her and marry a younger
woman who could give him a son to say Kaddish, thus
providing them both with a place in heaven. The
rabbi dissuades them and they leave the court hurt
and disappointed.
Israel-Joshua
has become a free-thinker, the source of constant
conflict with his father. His mother berates him
and warns him not to contaminate his younger brother
Isaac with his heretical ideas.
A young man,
Mendele, brings his fiancée, Raytche and her father
Zorakh into court and asks that the engagement be
broken. He claims that Zorakh is constantly
interfering in their lives and ruining the
prospective marriage. The rabbi instructs Zorakh to
stop interfering in his daughter's affairs and asks
the young people to become reconciled.
Moyshe, the
tinsmith, is leaving for Palestine. The neighbors
have gathered to wish him well. When he says that
all Jews want to go to the land of Israel, the rabbi
criticizes the free thinkers for trying to establish
a Jewish state by themselves, rather than waiting
for the Messiah to come. A dispute between
Israel-Joshua and father is stopped by Bath-Sheva
and everyone wishes Moyshe well in the land of
Israel.
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A
conscience-stricken woman comes to the rabbi with a
tale of a son born out of wedlock whom she left as a
baby on the steps of a church and who was raised as
a Christian. The rabbi consoles her, gives her a
penance, fasting, charity and prayer and she leaves
greatly relieved.
Isaac is
disturbed by the story and worries about the
illegitimate son's fate in the world to come.
The rabbi too,
is distraught and prays for the coming of the
Messiah so the world can be redeemed from sin and
suffering.
A letter
arrives from the rabbi's daughter in Belgium. Her
husband is unemployed and the family is in
difficulties. The rabbi returns from the synagogue
with the news that an anarchist group has been
formed. The rabbi disapproves, but Israel-Joshua
has other ideas. They have an argument which the
mother interrupts with her worries about her
daughter's plight. The scene closes with everyone
upset.
Three
underworld characters bring a dispute to the
rabbi. They argue and yell and he cannot understand
why they are at odds. There is a noise in the
street. The Austrian-Archduke has been shot at Sarajevo.
War is imminent. The Jews are frightened and they
pray for peace.
Israel-Joshua has been drafted and his mother is
distraught. She prays for his safety day and
night. The rabbi consoles her. Israel-Joshua
arrives in the middle of the night, having deserted
and suffered greatly, on the way back from the front
to Warsaw.
The Khassid,
Mattes, has also been praying for the end of the war
so he can rejoin his rabbi in Uman. There, he says,
there is constant joy, for so Rabbi Nakhman of
Bratslev has ordained.
Sabbath
eve, Bath-Sheva is preparing for a visit to her
parents in Belgoray. The war has impoverished the
Jews of Warsaw and the rabbi has no cases to try.
The family is on the verge of starvation. Mirele
brings in a Khaleh so the rabbi can make Kiddush.
Mattes come-on to tell the rabbi that he has no
bread or wine for Kiddush. The rabbi gives him the
Khaleh. Raytche brings wine for Kiddush, in the
hope that the rabbi's prayers will bring her fiancée
safely home from the war.
The rabbi
makes Kiddush and ushers in the Sabbath with its
hope for peace and plenty.
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