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Hanoch Levin - Success Story Introduction |
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Tel Aviv -- Hanoch Levin, a son of Holocaust survivors from Poland, erupted into the consciousness of Israeli theatre at the end of the 1960s with his satirical review, You, Me and the Next War, directed by Edna Shavit. It was staged in the basement of Bar-Barim Club (then a jazz club), crammed between garages and metal workshops in Hamasger Street in south Tel Aviv. It was a summer’s evening and a group of us sat on straw stools looking openmouthed the small stage with its four chairs, five actors, and composer Alex Kagan at the piano. Three spots lit the stage and a simple electric fan stood next to it in an effort to alleviate the heat and humidity. This was followed by Levin’s cabaret, The Queen of the Bathtub, directed by Hanoch’s older brother, David Levin (who would later become artistic director of the Habima National Theatre, and who now lives and works in Germany). It was staged at the Cameri Theatre of Tel Aviv at the height of the War of Attrition that raged over both banks of the Suez Canal. The play met with heated demonstrations by audiences and members of the political establishment, which led to a public debate regarding the role of the actor in theatre. Does an actor merely play a role and memorize text, or does he identify with the subject matter expressed on the stage and adopt a personal stance? The play was taken off due to pressure from the actors (some of whom refused to appear in it…). Before long, Israeli theatre masse warmly embraced Hanoch Levin, and the scathing plays he wrote and directed became popular faire for most Israeli stages and audiences. The Cameri Theatre became his home theatre, and following Hanoch’s passing in 1999, it founded the Institute of Israeli Drama in his name, documenting and promoting his works throughout the world and serving as a center for the fostering and study of Modern Israeli theatre. The man who made a point of avoiding interviews left behind hundreds of studies, articles and quotations from his writings and plays. Levin spent his last days in the hospital room (that became an impromptu rehearsal room) rehearsing the play Requiem with the Cameri Theatre actors… Hanoch Levin (18.12.1943 – 18.8.1999), playwright, director, author, poet, visionary, creator, and a man who with his plays he knew how to lead us through a mysterious labyrinth of mirrors, snippets of life’s small pleasures at one end, and fear of oblivion at the other
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