“Every normal country has classics,” said Tzipi Pines, Director of the Beit Lessin Theatre, “we don’t. Classic plays that stand the test of time. In Israel we are finally entering an era in which we have classic plays, by playwrights such as Hanoch Levin, Shmuel Hasfari, Hillel Mittelpunkt, and Anat Gov.”
Playwright Anat Gov passed away in December 2012 after a long battle with cancer, leaving a significant imprint on Israeli theatre with six plays – Best Friends, Lysistrata, Househusband, Oh, My God!, A Warm Family and Happy Ending. Beit Lessin and the Cameri theatres will be presenting a new production of Gov’s first play, Best Friends (Haverot Hachi Tovot), directed by Gilad Kimchi. In a presentation that took place on March 5, 2013 at the Beit Lessin Theatre, Pines said that she had been courting Gov (whose plays have been produced at the Cameri theatre) for a long time, and was pleased that the playwright ultimately agreed to work together, suggesting the current co-production. Gov was actively involved in preparations for the production, including the choice of director and cast, yet towards her final days communicated with Pines via text messages. One of Gov’s last messages to Pines was: “I’m glad we had the opportunity to work together.”
Omri Nitzan, artistic director of the Cameri Theatre, who worked very closely with Gov for many years, said, “Most of her plays were based on her own life, this play is about friendship between women, which is a different kind of relationship. It is about the dissolution of a friendship that began in youth. Anat Gov’s writing is characterized by its depth and the honesty, yet she always knew how to maintain a certain lightness.”
The play is about three friends: Sofi, a divorcee with three children, each from a different father; Tirza, a married novelist; and Lali, who never married or had children. The friends are seen in two phases of their lives and friendship – in their youth, at the start of their friendship, and twenty years later, verging on forty, when Sofi and Tirza have not spoken to one another for nearly two years, and Lali tries to reconcile the two.
In the presentation, Maya Dagan portrayed present-day Sofi, and Shimrit Lustig was the young Sofi; Yael Levental portrayed present-day Tirza, and Dina Sanderson was the young Tirza; Sarit Vino-Elad portayed present-day Lali, and Kinneret Limoni was young Lali. In the production Maya Dagan will alternate roles with Sarit Vino-Elad, and Sarit Vino-Elad will alternate roles with Hadas Kalderon.
Performances will take place at ZOA House: March 16th at 21:00; March 17, 18, 19, and 20th at 20:30.
See more photos from the presentation in the Midnight East facebook album.
