Ismailia, written and directed by Hillel Mitelpunkt, brings together three men whose friendship was forged twenty years previously during the Yom Kippur war, for a reckoning of their lives and friendship. Featuring three strong actors – Amos Tamam, Micha Selektar and Alon Dahan, Ismailia is an all-male territory, much as the front is typically all male, and the tight, concentrated play exposes and examines the culture, mores, and psyche of the Israeli male of a certain age. Ismailia premiered in 2002 at the Beit Lessin Theatre, coming 15 years later, the current Cameri Theatre production invites the viewer to look back at who we were then as a culture, and reflect on our present experiences and circumstances in that light.
One of Mitelpunkt’s strengths as a writer is the ability to describe a certain Israeli consciousness through vivid, memorable characters that strike a chord of recognition in the viewer. Miki (Tamam), Ami (Selektar) and Kritz (Dahan), are bound together by their shared past, yet the passage of years has brought changes to their lives and friendship. Differences in character and social standing are well conveyed in the actor’s demeanor and in their clothing. Miki, the successful gynecologist is handsomely attired for a professional look in a tailored, crisp shirt and dark suit, while Ami, the journalist, is clad in the intellectual nonchalance of khakis and a denim shirt. The third side of this triangle is Kritz, whose short-sleeved button down proclaims his downward mobility, while the gun he carries shouts out false bravado.
Miki, Ami, and Kritz are all connected through their shared experiences during the Yom Kippur war. Yet just as the friendship has different aspects for each of them, so too do they differ in their relationship to the past. For Kritz these are the memories of his glory days, nothing that came after can equal the drama and camaraderie. Perpetually down on his luck, he clings to these memories, constantly recycling the old jokes from their unit, and continually reviving the memory of old debts. Dahan gives an excellent performance as Kritz, conveying a sense of the character at first sight, in the plaintive quality of his voice, and in his body language, as he literally clings to Miki. Pathetic and emotionally manipulative though he is, Dahan succeeds in imbuing Kritz with a certain poignancy. Miki is the apparent winner in the game of life, with a thriving practice and artist wife. Miki sets goals for himself, and does what it takes to achieve them. The charismatic Tamam portrays Miki with pizzazz, self-serving rationalizations and all. Ami is at a crossroads in his personal and professional life. Once a leading journalist, tracking and exposing truths and breaking news, he now is one of the old guard, rendered almost obsolete by a cadre of young hot shots. A veteran of divorce, he’s on marriage 2.0, and trying to come to grips with it all, a complex character portrayed with warmth by Selektar.
The Yom Kippur War was a pivotal moment in Israeli history, in many aspects it was a turning point in Israeli culture, and this is reflected in the experiences of the three men. It marked a time of changing values, for some there was a turning inward to examine essential assumptions, while at the same time there was a turning outward, an openness and reaching out to world culture facilitated by developing technology. Greater prosperity for some, like Miki and Ami, meant joining the club of consumer culture, the pleasures and pressures of an upwardly mobile lifestyle. As Ami expresses it with vivid precision, they went from “schnitzel and potatoes” to “pasta and sushi.” The changes in Israeli culture came incrementally, almost undiscernibly, as do the changes in an individual’s life. Mitelpunkt’s play finds these men at another crossroads, confronting middle age, that time in life when one suddenly has a past. How apt is the set, designed by Alexandra Nardi, showing Miki’s home in mid-renovations, furniture covered with sheets, scaffolding in the middle of the living room, and a big hole in the roof exposing the home and everyone in it to the elements as Miki, Ami and Kritz confront their choices, desires, and fears. .
Ismailia
Written and directed by Hillel Mitelpunkt; Set: Alexandra Nardi; Music: Avi Belleli; Lighting: Adi Shimroni; Costumes: Hadas Avneri; Cast: Amos Tamam – Miki, Micha Selektar – Ami, Alon Dahan – Kritz.
