By Robert W. Bethune
Here we have a play about two sisters who are Jewish, with witty lines, strong characters and worthwhile issues at stake. The play is "Saying Kaddish With My Sister," by Alison Luterman, now in performance by the Jewish Ensemble Theatre.
The production has a lot going for it. The cast is strong, though I do think that when an actress like Rhonda English has the chance to play God AND Oprah at the same time, we ought to have a little more pizzazz. The set is practical and effective, though perhaps a bit more somber than the play really needs. Nicholas Calanni's direction gets directly to the heart of things, keeping our attention on the sisters, where it belongs, without short-changing the scenes in the vestibule of Heaven, also known as the "Oprah Winfrey Show, Divinely Inspired Version."
The problem, unfortunately, is the play.
The story is a simple family affair. Lydia and Rachel, the sisters, have to deal with the death of their mother Lorraine. Lorraine, up on the Heavenly – or at least almost Heavenly – set of Oprah's show, has to deal with leaving them behind. Max, the father, apparently died long enough ago that we don't pay much attention to him, except as he impacts the lives of his wife and daughters. His farewell to his wife is an excellent monologue.
The family issues are comprehensive and wide-ranging, including everything from the Jewish equivalent of "Mom always liked you best," to who gets the pearls, to who is doing more to save the world, to how much these sisters hate each other and why, to who owes what to whom in a desperately ungenerous family. The Gaza Strip, feminism, the Holocaust, the kibbutz, art versus society, what it takes to hold a faith together – all this and more works its way into the play. There are many prayers in the play, not one of them completed or effective. Not even this family's religion is working for them.
All this doesn't hold together, and it doesn't go anywhere. Each character is dug into who they are and how they relate to the others as deeply as the French dug the Maginot Line – and we all know how much good that did them. It doesn't do this family any good either.
At the end of the play, it is just possible that the daughters have begun to move, in tiny, tiny baby steps, toward each other, but we have no reason to expect that any such movement will be successful or lasting. Since there is no change in the characters and no change in the relationships, the play has no movement, which means there is a fundamental lack of dramatic reward. The imaginative elements supplied with the story – Oprah in Heaven, flashbacks and flashforwards, Lorraine doing a sort of "It's a Wonderful Life" moment late in the play – cannot make up for this.
This production is the world premiere, but I hope this play will still be reworked into something deeper, more penetrating, and therefore more rewarding.
(FOR "REVIEW BOX")
REVIEW:
'Saying Kaddish With My Sister'
Jewish Ensemble Theatre Company at the DeRoy Theatre on the campus of the Jewish Community Center, 6600 W. Maple Rd., West Bloomfield. Wed, Thu., Sat. & Sun., through Feb. 17. Tickets: $30-$39. For information: 248-788-2900 or http://www.jettheatre.org.
