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Friday March 25, 2005

TJT’s inspired ‘Blood Relative’ delivers an emotional wallop

by suzanne weiss
correspondent

Ibi, the protagonist in Traveling Jewish Theatre’s “Blood Relative,” feels his half-Jewish, half-Arab blood boiling. He is pulled in opposite directions by his relatives, his Uncle David, once a war hero now a drunken derelict, and his dead grandparents, an elegant, aristocratic Arab and a Jewish kibbutznik.

They plague him constantly — David by moving in with him and the other two as ghosts who inhabit his dreams. “You must choose,” they tell him.

But Ibi — alternately known as Avraham and Ibrahim — cannot deny either part of himself. “I can’t get angry or even blame anyone because I understand why,” he says.

“Blood Relative” does not presume to offer any answers to the Arab-Israeli conflict. If anything, it throws the questions into even sharper relief. Nevertheless, this is more than a dramatic exercise. It may take a while to get there, but once it reaches its stride, it delivers an emotional wallop that just may knock you out.

Some three years in the making, TJT’s new production was originally dubbed “The Middle East Project.” The new name not only gets away from the academic connotation, but is absolutely inspired.

A final meaning of the word “relative” is relativity. It truly is a superb title for this ensemble creation by director Aaron Davidman, dramaturge Naomi Newman and the five talented cast members. Music composed and performed by Georges Lammam, born in Lebanon and now living in San Francisco, greatly enhances the experience.

The play runs through Sunday, April 17, in San Francisco, moving to Berkeley on Thursday, April 21.

The plot is minimal. Ibi (Israeli actor Ibrahim Miari) staggers into Giulio Cesare Perrone’s visually stunning apartment set — all Jerusalem stone and sand colors — bloodied, beaten and traumatized. He has been attacked by militants of both sides; it is not the first time he has been called “dirty Arab” and “dirty Jew.” In his frustration he soon trashes his pristine living space. Uncle David (Corey Fischer) arrives, newly evicted with his worldly belongings in two gigantic trash bags, and completes the job.

A cleaning lady (the very funny Israeli actress Meirav Kupperberg) shows up Thursday after Thursday in a vain attempt to straighten things out, but Ibi stubbornly clings to his chaos. There are parallels here to the political situation.

Numerous flashbacks to Ibi’s childhood: the taunting by other kids, excursions with the beloved grandparents (grandmother Nora el Samahy, grandfather Eric Rhys Miller) who are pulling him in opposite directions, as glimpses into his dreams complete the scenario. None of it is linear but all of it has certain logic.

The final scene — a real blockbuster that showcases the talents of the performers in new and different ways — is yet another dream, perhaps a nightmare. In it a panel moderated by Fischer-as-showman, ostensibly discussing the situation in Israel. It soon turns into a confrontational free-for-all. Kupperberg’s hilarious bleeding-heart liberal is balanced by el Samahy’s aloof Palestinian-perhaps-terrorist. Rhys Miller is a recently immigrated hard-line fundamentalist Jew, his best portrayal of the evening.

This segment, bordering on the theater of the absurd, turns positively Kafka-esque as Ibi morphs into a dog, howling in pain. “I was circumcised by both sides and there’s not much left!” he yells.

The humor segues into violence as the actors attack each other very physically and ends with the highly symbolic tale of the sacrifice of Isaac (“or is it Ismail?”) when Fischer, as the biblical patriarch, lays the knife down. If only things were that easy in real life.

No answers in “Blood Relative,” just better and better questions, all of them worth asking.

“Blood Relative” plays through April 17 at Traveling Jewish Theatre, 470 Florida St., S.F.; April 21-May 1 at Julia Morgan Center for the Arts, 2640 College Ave., Berkeley. Shows 8 p.m. Thursdays-Saturdays, 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays, with some exceptions. Tickets: $12 to $35; discounts available. Information: (415) 285-8080 or www.atjt.com.

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