A performance based on Alla Zuskina’s book “The Travels of Benjamin and archival documents. Playwright: Alex Germash, Director: Alexander Mikhailov, Set Designer: Maria Mikhailova, Cast: Tatiana Khazanovskaya, Alexander Mikhailov, Anatoly Nemov. Duration: 75 minutes
For many years, the State Jewish Theater (GOSET) staged a remarkable play, “The Travels of Benjamin III,” directed by the theater’s founder and artistic director, Alexei Granovsky. The main roles were played by Solomon Mikhoels and Beniamin Zuskin. “Right foot forward!” is expression taken from this play. This is how two eccentrics, searching for the road to Eretz Israel, encouraged themselves. Our performance is about the talented, cheerful people who created the Jewish theater, which shone as a bright star on the world theatrical map for three decades. In the play, Alla – Beniamin Zuskin’s daughter, have imaginary conversations with her father.
The story begins in 1921, when the young Zuskin joins the GOSET troupe. His teachers become the theater’s founder, Alexei Granovsky, and the theater’s first actor, Solomon Mikhoels. In productions staged by Granovsky, Zuskin plays leading roles, and the famous duo – of the highest European standard – of Mikhoels and Zuskin emerges. After a brilliant first decade, during which the theater gains world fame, another historical period begins – a brutal confrontation between talented Jewish stage artists and the tyrannical authorities. This is a time of persecution, harassment, direct murders, and the destruction of GOSET and its leaders. Our performance is not only about the great artists of the past but also about the moral choices that contemporary artists have to make today.
17:00: Thematic tour of the museum, focused on Jewish theater.
Top photo: from the play “Right Foot Forward!”
