Last week at Warehouse 2 in the Jaffa Port, the Orto-Da Theatre Group performed In-Sanity, an electronic spoken opera written by Yifat Zadany Tzafrir and Tsipy Gilad.
This is not like any other electronic opera you’ve heard before. An ethereal musical backdrop is provided by Avi Elbaz and Amir Ben Ami, performing original music on guitar and bass guitar. Meanwhile, on the stage, four performers portray the characters of the play: a man and a woman (Itamar Sharon and Noa Har-Zion), a Iago-like villain (Yinon Tzafrir), and the sad figure called only the Scapegoat (Yuval Stunis). The text is rhymed, enough to add structure to the musical accompaniment.
Funny and frightening at the same time, the twisty plot kept us on the edge of our seats, right up until the abrupt ending.
The title In-Sanity is a fitting one for a play featuring a surreal, post-apocalyptic plot, but it is far more than that: a political and sexual satire that feels all too familiar to any Israeli. The action takes place on a ship that is sailing through what the crew believe to be radioactive waters.
Orto-Da was founded in 1996 by Yinon Tzafrir, who remains its artistic director. Since its beginnings in fringe theaters in Israel, the group has gone on to receive international prizes and recognition. The name is an amalgam of “orthodox” and “Dada”. Orto-Da specializes in unique theatrical presentations in a style of their own invention.
Check out other performances by Orto-Da through their website, www.orto-da.com.
