Firehall Arts Centre

Reading Hebron

by Jason Sherman

Directed by Donna Spencer

Oct 8th to 24th

Reviewer: Frank C. Scott

Jason Sherman, an award winning playwright, takes an honest look at and raises some interesting questions regarding the Israeli occupation of the Muslim West Bank. First produced by Factory Theatre Lab in 1996, Reading Hebron uses the 1994 massacre of 29 Palestinians by the hand of Jewish settler Dr. Baruch Goldstein as its vehicle to explore the political and religious arena of Jew versus Arab.

Nathan Abramowitz, a Jewish-Canadian living in Toronto, lives a confused, paranoid life. He sets off on an investigation of the Hebron massacre in the hope of understanding both himself and his Jewish ancestry. The result is a journey for truth and fact, self - exploration, and religious faith, that uniquely threads a path between past and present, conscious and subconscious. Over fifty characters continually carousel around him as thoughts haunting and driving him forward in his examination of the massacre.

Donna Spencer, an award winning director, masterfully directs this play through the use of a simple black and white set to accentuate the dramatic power of the written word. Her use of imagery also creates a powerful effect…at one point Nathan physically carries the burden of his thoughts.

The entire cast deserves credit for their performances with this difficult play, but Andy Thompson, who plays Nathan Abramowitz, deserves special credit for creating a complex yet simple, sometimes funny, sometimes paranoid, charming character.