Theatronetto 2012 – Monodramas in Competition

Theatronetto, the monodrama festival, will take place this year from April 9 – 11, 2012 in the Old City of Jaffa. The 22nd edition of the festival is created and produced in collaboration with the Ministry of Culture and Sport, the Tel Aviv-Yafo Municipality Department of Arts and Culture, the Old Jaffa Development Company, the Jaffa Theatre, the Choreographer’s Society and Bimot 2000. A selection of the Theatronetto plays will also be performed at the Haifa Theatre from May 22 – 24, 2012, and at the Herzliya Theatre in June 2012.

Macholnetto – a program of 5 dance solos will make its first appearance this year, adding a new dynamic dimension to the festival. The Old Jaffa Development Company will continue the tradition of companion events with art galleries and studios hosting exhibitions, intimate concerts and jazz performances; tours of Old Jaffa; and new this year, a special outdoor exhibition initiated by the Florentin 45 Gallery and curated by Gilat Nadivi, Dana Gilerman and associate curator Vera Pilpoul, with video art, sculpture and installations in alternative spaces throughout the Old City of Jaffa.

Complementing the 8 monodramas in competition will be two guest plays: Daniela Michaeli will revive her role in Shlafshtunde, which won first place at the 1991 Theatronetto. Adapted from Yehudit Katzir’s book, the monodrama was originally directed by Yoram Falk. The Room Theatre production of Hitler by Tova Rogel and Amir Orian, directed and performed by Amir Orian.

In the Theatronetto Hyde Park tradition, students from the Kibbutz Seminar Theatre Department will present their perspective on Abie Natan’s famous Peace Ship (home of “The Voice of Peace” radio station broadcasting 24 hours a day from 1973 – 1993) with outdoor installations, physical theatre and other happenings.

Monodramas in Competition:

No Gnomes Will Come – based on the eponymous novel by Sara Shilo, adapted and directed by Revital Eitan and performed by Chantale Cohen. In the middle of the night, Simona, widow of the late “Falafel King” left to raise 6 children on her own, lies on the empty field near the goal post. Katyusha rockets are falling, everyone else is in the bomb shelter, and Simona waits for a rocket to fall and end her misery.

Achshav Shuv May (Now It’s May Again) – written and directed by Liat Fishman Lani, performed by Anat Zamshtiegman. In the moments before Yuli, a 40 year old woman, is about to have an abortion, she tries to explain to the fetus why she has made this decision. In the telling, she relives her own childhood with its joy and pain, her father’s fatal car accident and the aftermath of that trauma.

Shafuy! (Sane) – written and performed by Yosef Sikorel, directed by Ofer Halevy. Chico returns to the home of the uncle who raised him after a twenty year absence, only to learn that his uncle, Dudu Baruch, has died. 38 year old Chico tells the story of his life, wandering on the streets as a beggar, his forced hospitalization and subsequent involuntary participation in the research of his psychiatrist, which ultimately won the doctor a Nobel Prize, and most of all – his struggle for sanity.

Brilliant (Diamond) – written, directed and performed by Lani Shafir. The story of a grandmother and her granddaughter – the love and warmth they share, the amusing repertoire of the Jewish collective consciousness and menu, the ever-present shadow of the Holocaust and the painful realities of aging, a prelude to a final farewell. The performance relives scenes from the relationship (not in chronological order), accompanied by Yiddish and Israeli music.

iDoll – written and performed by Noam Rubinstein, directed by Yovlel Liron. Pinocchio – the never before written sequel. The once-famous doll now lives in a rented apartment and discovers that being human is not as simple as it seems. Recovering from a failed marriage, dealing with financial woes and caring for the aging Geppetto, Pinocchio works on his life’s project: the iDoll, the ultimate doll that will change the world.

Bigdei Horef Aba (Dad’s Winter Clothes) – written by Moshe Ferster, directed by Hadas Kardilman and performed by Hila Metzker Halevy. The breakdown of the nuclear family as seen through the eyes of the daughter, forced to grow up too soon. In the swimming pool locker she goes through her bag of gear and memories, and creates a plan to run away and save her parent’s marriage.

HaKof Shel Kafka (Kafka’s Monkey) – written by Colin Teevan based on Franz Kafka’s A Report to an Academy, translated and musically edited by Shimon Buzaglo, directed by Ilan Toren, and performed by Yosef Abu-Varda. In Kafka’s allegory, the members of the Academy are presented with the amazing story of a man who made the journey from ape to human in a mere five years: captured in Africa, brought to Europe aboard ship, he realizes that his freedom has been taken away forever. In order to survive he chooses to learn the ways of humans, which turns out to be quite simple. Upon arrival in Europe, he devotes all his energies to becoming a stage actor as an alternative to the destructive options he would otherwise face. A production of the Haifa Theatre.

HaTova BaImahot (The Best of Mothers) – based on a short story by Simone de Beauvoir, adapted and directed by Idan Schwartz, performed by Hagit Ben-Ami Redler. A fateful night in the life of Muriel – Christmas Eve, the entire city is feasting, drinking and celebrating, and tomorrow will be a decisive day for Muriel. She tries to sleep despite the noise coming from outside, but the internal voices of the past call out even louder. As she confronts herself and her past, the portrait of a complex woman coming to terms with her mother, and the mother she herself has become, is etched on the night.

Tickets for Theatronetto are 50 NIS per play, 45 NIS students, early bird price – 35 NIS. Tickets may be purchased online www.run-art.co.il, or call: 09-8945957.

Links:
Photos from the Theatronetto press preview on Midnight East’s facebook page
Theatronetto facebook page