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A review for this play appeared in the New
York Times, November 22, 1981:
Theater: 'Shop' at the
Folksbiene
by Richard F. Shepard
That splendid and durable company,
the Folksbiene Playhouse, is offering in its 67th season, on
East 55th Street, a play that should ring bells of reminiscence
for New York's Jewish community. This Yiddish production of
"Shop" is by H. Leivick, a poet and playwright whose feeling of
social concern for the exploited and for the individual in a
cruel society makes him a sort of forebear of Clifford Odets.
"Shop" was written in 1926 and is
about a strike in the garment industry. In it, we sit through
the interaction of those who worked in the shop: the fat,
repulsive boss, the gentle workers, the frivolous girls working
at tedious and underpaid jobs, the fiery union sloganeers, the
people who are in self-conflict at the moment of decision,
whether to strike or not.
As adapted and directed by Misha
Nuchi, "Shop" lives, a period pieced to be sure, but an
evocation of what is now called the world of our fathers, about
workers and bosses, about greenhorns and Americans.
The play is done in the usual
tasteful, glowing Folksbiene style. The set by Natan Nuchi gives
us a shop, with worktables, sewing machines and windows that
look out on other garment buildings; it is somewhat stylized but
at the same time impressively real. It is all spread before us
as the curtain goes up on a stunning tableau.
The language is Yiddish,
interspersed with Americanisms. Occasional ballads in English
effectively carry the mood and plot to non-Yiddishists. They are
written by Marvin Gordon and performed by Lydia Saxton and Ric
Cherwin to tender, touching and rousing music written by Zalmen
Mlotek.
"Shop" has no star, but almost
everyone in it has a moment in the sun. Karol Latowicz gives a
persuasive performance as the immigrant one-time Socialist and
tortured at finding himself a partner in business, particularly
since the love of his life, played at this performance by Luba
Stolarska, is the shop's union leader. Morris Adler, as his
partner, is as crass as they come and has no feeling for the
newcomers to America.
Zypora Spaisman is particularly
poignant as the old maid torn between her fervor for the workers
and her love of the manager, a non-striker, played by I.W.
Firestone. Moishe Rosenfeld, as a worker, represents movingly
the voice of compassion, the man who is able to feel for the
humanity on all sides of the abyss. Joshua Zeldis conveys the
sense of the times an old worker who tells a sort of parable
about a pious worker who must sew a certain number of garments
before the Messiah arrives (and never does, even unto the
grave).
Everyone in the cast, including
Felix Fibich (he also did the choreography of this non-musical
with some music), helps make this a true taste of the emotions
that once shook the city and its people. |
