Ethnic Theater - Jewish

"Conviction"
59E59 Theaters, Manhattan

All the ingredients are there, all the makings for a deeply moving and relevant drama! Israeli Oren Neeman’s play “Conviction” deals with the Spanish Inquisition, with Jewish persecution, and with tracing one’s ancestors.  The tale moves back and forth in time, from Salamanca in 1486 to Franco Spain in 1962. The cast of characters range from modern-day Israeli professors and Spanish bureaucrats to long-gone Jewish “Conversos.” It deals with the martyrdom of Jews, forced to convert or be exiled or burned at the stake. (And even conversion did not necessarily save the Jews of that era, many of whom practiced Judaism in secret.)

So why doesn’t this drama (now playing at 59E59 Theaters off-Broadway) work on stage? The story itself, based on Yonatan Ben-Nachum’s novel “Confession,” is potentially absorbing. A young Israeli professor, Professor Chaim Tal, has stolen an ancient document from the Spanish National Archives. Before he is thrown into prison for this crime, he is questioned by the Archives’ Director. Gradually it comes to light that the stolen document focuses on a Catholic priest, one Andres Gonzales, who is secretly married to the beautiful Jewess Isabel. And this Gonzales may or may not be the professor’s direct ancestor.

In this current era of the DNA, many of us are caught up in the genealogy craze, and Professor Tal’s search is indeed intriguing. But dramatic punch is another matter. The major problem is that the work is structured as a play within a play within a play. It is three times removed from the here and now. Professor Tal looks back at Gonzales’ story, while Gonzales, in turn, looks back on his love affair as he confesses to his priest/mentor Juan De Salamanca.

Hence, there is no forward movement and no building of dramatic tension as the story unfolds. One might do better to read this tale on the printed page. Nor does the competent but hardly dynamic cast add the needed punch. Though Kevin Hart is competent as both the Director and Juan, and Catherine Pilafas lends a lyrical touch to her portrayal of Isabel, Ami Dayan tends to tamp down his leading roles as the Professor and Gonzales.

Yet “Conviction” has an impressive international history, traveling in varied format from a successful run in Israel to Chicago to California to Colorado to its current staging in New York City. Ami Dayan (a cousin of of the one-time Israeli general Moshe Dayan) certainly has a stake in the piece, beyond his performance. He has played it as a one-man show and ultimately (with playwright Neeman’s approval) turned it into its current form.

We would hope that “Conviction” might undergo further change, bringing out a potential which might yet wow New York audiences.

Mar. 8, 2010
-- Irene Backalenick