Riding armchairs across the stage like bumper-cars, coasting on sneakers with wheels, and bouncing on trampolines, the Mounsturm Theatre production of Benny Barbash’s My First Sony, adapted and directed by Stéphane Bittoun comes to the Cameri Theatre in Tel Aviv from June 23 – 25, 2010.
Originally published as a novel in 1994, My First Sony tells the story of ten year old Yotam, who obsessively documents the tensions, humor and complexities of family life in Tel Aviv, with the Sony tape-recorder he receives from his father. The current production offers an opportunity to see contemporary Israeli culture through the filter of a German perspective. The background consists of two large white bathroom curtains, which also function as screens for video sequences filmed in familiar Tel Aviv locations like Sheinkin and Kikar HaMedina. Two trampolines and mechanical armchairs complete the creative set design.
Stéphane Bittoun was born in 1970, and studied in the Drama Department at Gießen. Actor, playwright and director for television, theatre and film, his theatre work often includes video, radio broadcasts and creative use of sound and visual elements. He has worked with the Kampnagel Hamburg Theatre, Staatstheater Meiningen, Neues Theatre, Staatstheater Mainz and has worked at the Mounsturm Theatre in Frankfurt since 1999.
Benny Barbash was born in Beersheva, Israel, in 1951, and currently lives in Tel Aviv. He holds a BA in history from Tel Aviv University and has published three novels. A writer of plays and screenplays, he wrote the script for Beyond the Walls, a landmark in Israeli cinema which won several international prizes. Barbash has received the ADAI-WIZO Prize (Italy, 2006) and the “Public`s Favorite” Prize for My First Sony (Paris, 2008). In 1996, the actor Roy Horowitz adapted and performed “My First Sony” as a monodrama in the Theatronetto Festival, a version which has since been performed worldwide.
Hosted by the Cameri Theatre in cooperation with the Goethe Institute, the play will be performed in German with subtitles in Hebrew. Duration: 2 ½ hours, including an intermission. Performances will take place June 23 – 25 at 21:00 at the Cameri Theatre, 19 Shaul Hamelech Blvd, Tel Aviv. Tickets: www.cameri.co.il, 03-6060960.
AYELET DEKEL
