REVIEW: One Jewish Boy (Theatre J)
Preview: “The Jewish Play That Stunned The UK!”- alright, you got me. What are we getting into? Some quick research informs me that this play, making its US premiere at Theatre J on 16th Street NW, evoked a wave of antisemetic reactions when it hit London in 2020. Whatever the hell this play is, if it’s getting Nazis all riled up like this, it’s gotta be worth watching.
Acting: This two-person play relies too heavily on the both of them for the weight of the story, and it shows in both their performances and how the audience feels with the weight of their relationship on our shoulders. Danny Gavigan and Alanna Saunders as Jesse and Alex, respectively, both shakily represent their characters’ traumas to confusing ends. It’s not entirely clear when things are funny, when they should be scene-ending, when we should clap. Their stage presence is merely left there to fester, with only brief moments of something resembling chemistry. As the intensity of the book thickens over the play, it becomes very clear that the emotional weight of the character experiences weigh heavily on their energies. It becomes almost laborious to watch them be so toxic and bickery. Surely, extra characters or some room to breathe would do everyone a favor. 2/10
Production: I’m a big fan of the dysfunctional-Jewish-family-show-utilizing-minimal-box-based-staging trope. It’s easy, it’s fun, it’s effective. Director Johanna Gruenhut couples this with projection designer Danny Debner and lighting designer Jesse W. Belsky to make some creatively subtle setting changes, even if the projections are overused a smidge. Debra Kim Sivigny’s striking set design is pure white with an off-kilter angular stage, allowing different perspectives from the audience, and gives most of the room to the main characters. It isn’t much, but it does make for a fun guessing game as to how it will be utilized. Unfortunately, not as creatively as I hoped, which was underwhelming. 4/10
Book: Jesse and Alex are a couple who, as of the start of the show, are getting a divorce. What follows is a meandering series of vignettes from various points in their relationship, initially starting in 2014 and moving forward but then jumping out of order, which was disorienting. The key elements of the plot involve Jesse’s status as an upper-middle-class North Londoner, who was victim of a severe antisemetic hate crime, and Alex’s status as a mixed-race woman. While I have plenty of issues to address with the plot, I can start with the toxicity of their relationship. Not once is it believable that they ever actually loved — hell, even LIKED — each other. (Blame this on poor actor chemistry if you will, but that can only do so much with a book like this.) Each spat is marred by childish he-said-she-saids, and and the empathy expressed is overwritten by the lack of any conclusion to their conflicts — hell, we already know they get divorced, so there’s not even a happy ending to look forward to. This poor showing is telegraphed unfortunately very well from the start, and after certain scenes I seriously considered walking out. The most frustrating element is the focus on each others’ problems and how often the camera focuses on Jesse’s traumas from the hate crime without either allowing the character to heal or confront it. Antisemitism is absolutely real in today’s world. It is entirely believable he could be victimized like this as Jew. What isn’t fun to watch is that he, according to the script, had been in therapy on-and-off for six (6) years and made seemingly no progress, only letting his fears toxify the most positive relationship in his life. This focus on his lack of self-healing hogs any attention from Alex, who repeatedly mentions her own trauma as a feminine black body and struggles as someone who is visibly othered. It’s almost like playwright Stephen Laughton himself is there to routinely interrupt and shut out Alex’s story so that the audience doesn’t begin to empathize. It’s not a competition! Both traumas are and can be treated with respect so that they can help each other heal. Instead, we get unpolished, grating writing that does nothing but paint a traumatized man as a political traitor, a selfish bully, and a poor husband, and Alex as an uncaring, cold, almost-antisemite, leaving any healthy resolution in the dust. 0/10
VisDev: Once more, with passion: “The Jewish Play That Stunned the UK!” Plastered above the title on the program certainly does indicate something exciting and potentially scandalous, but not the nature of it. The figures behind the text kissing, only clearly show a white male and a darker-skinned person — later known as Alex, his wife. It’s not clear from this what, besides a potential romantic element, awaits us in the play. In fact, one could even accuse them of queerbaiting, as many in the audience thought that it was two men in the photo based on the title and it being Pride Month. That therein lies the fluidity of the piece, though: the dynamic of the show could apply to any marginalized person, not just Jews. Despite my complaints of the plot, it is a valid issue to tackle, just not done the best way. Opening staging evokes the idea of different perspectives as the askew stage makes two “fronts”, and creates unease in the audience. It’s actually one of the more creative elements of the show and I found to be a good. subtle introduction. 3/10
