Coming in the winter...
Haim Watzman's modern adaptation of the book of Hosea
The Chair
Theater and Theology's original cast in the Jerusalem's Festival of Kings workshop, October 2023
About:
Haim Watzman’s The Chair, Winner of the Theater Institute Award of The Szymon Szurmiej Contemporary Jewish Drama International Competition, Warsaw, in 2021, is a reimagining of the biblical book of Hosea in contemporary Israel’s mix of culture, religion, and politics.
Michal is a young woman who has just separated from her husband, Shaya, a labor activist to whom she is more a symbol than a human being. Michal rents a dilapidated apartment in which Lily, an austere and elderly Moroccan woman recently died, sitting on a chair facing her bedroom window. Ofek, Lily's son, tells Michal that she may rent the apartment but must not move a single thing in it for a year, as Moroccan tradition demands, including the inconveniently placed chair.
Orel, a Shas missionary, tries to bring Michal closer to religion and find her a new husband, and Gomer, a mentally challenged neighbor from the housing project, wanders through the apartment clutching three dolls she claims are her children.
On her first night in the apartment, Michal sits in Lily's chair, looks out over the courtyard, and begins to piece things together. In parallel, Shaya and Gomer play out the story of Hosea and the prostitute he takes as a wife at God’s command.
Like the book of Hosea, The Chair pits extremes of realism against metaphor, piety against sin, passion against indifference, and austerity against indulgence. It explores how prophetic vision might look today as it grapples with contemporary issues that are thousands of years old.
Click HERE for more information about the play, playwright, cast, and original workshop.
Note that The Chair includes adult themes and content, as does the biblical book of Hosea. It is not suitable for children.
Rehearsal and performance scenes from current and previous productions
