Source: The News Journal, Wilmington, Del.
Date: February 22, 2010
Byline: Tom Butler
Delaware Theatre Company's 'Asher Lev' depicts clash of art, faith in Hasidic family
A young man wearing a yarmulke but no shirt is on stage painting while the audience enters for the Delaware Theatre Company production of "My Name is Asher Lev."
The stage depicts an artist's studio filled with paint spatters and stacked with canvases. None of the artwork is fully visible. The artist puts on his shirt and announces that his name is Asher Lev. In the very first moments, director Jeremy Skidmore has established the themes and challenges of the play that Aaron Posner has crafted from Chaim Potok's famous novel about the conflicts of faith and art. The depictions of Hasidic Judaism as well as the tang of Yiddish phrases form a major part of the play.
This DTC production is an intense three-person show that draws the audience into the claustrophobic world of an artist who must defy the traditions of his culture and family to express the very gift that gives meaning and substance to his life. Alexander Strain portrays the very self-centered title character as a focused but conflicted man. Most of this work is a memory play, with Asher's long monologues punctuated by dramatic vignettes.
Strain brings a measured introspection to most of his speeches, yet still can summon up fire when it is required. He must portray the memories and physical personas of a boy from the ages of 6 though 16, as well as the successful young artist who begins the narration.
Intergenerational conflicts emerge, but not solely because Asher wants to draw, a pursuit his very devout father finds foolish and wasteful. Asher's father and mother have a tense and sometimes contentious relationship.
The father is a "traveler" for the Rebbe, the religious leader of the community, who sends the man all over the world to install a devotion to the Torah among all Jews. This is the same work the family has done for generations. He is a severe man, but loving in his own way.
Adam Heller plays this and several other male roles very effectively. He is particularly engaging as Jacob Kahn, a blunt old secular Jewish artist who guides Asher into the harsh world of painting. Kahn is as unflinching about those traditions as Asher's father is about his own.
Asher's mother is equally devoted to tradition, but suffered great personal pain when her only brother is killed while doing work for the Rebbe. Lise Bruneau makes that suffering palpable with her moaning first reaction and a slow emergence from deep depression.
The visual setting is supplied by Tony Cisek's realistic multilevel design, featuring elements of studio, apartment and art gallery. The lighting by Dan Covey and simple piano score by Matthew M. Nielson add concreteness and emotional impact to the production.
The 90-minute performance includes brief but effective nudity, highlighting the conflict about displaying the human body that is a central issue in Asher's battle with the moral code of his religion.
WHAT: "My Name Is Asher Lev"-- Aaron Posner's adaptation of the Chaim Potok novel
WHERE: Delaware Theatre Company, 200 Water St., Wilmington
WHEN: 8 p.m. Wednesday through Saturday; 2 p.m. matinees Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday, through Feb. 28
ADMISSION: $35 to $49.
INFORMATION: 594-1100 and www.delaware theatre.org