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By Anna Zeigler
Directed by Igor Golyak
Marylebone Theatre
Julia Pascal
This is a fascinating mess of a play which engages on every level. Anna Zeigler’s conceit is literary as the narrative plays out two parallel timelines within designated chapters. Action starts around 1970 when Schmuli marries Esther. Both are Chassidic New York Jews. However, Second Wave feminism provokes Esther to question her role as baby-maker. This is conflict number one. Storyline number two focuses on her writer- son Abe’s desire for an extra-marital affair with Julia, a screen actor.
The Wanderers as a title raises questions. Esther wanders from Chassidic life. Abe wanders from his marriage towards online adultery. Does the interplay of these two offer a satisfying theatrical experience? Intellectually and culturally, they have connections. Think Philip Roth who is referenced in the text. Think Joan Micklin Silver’s 1975 film Hester Street and the 2017 Netflix series Shtisel both of which explore orthodox Jewish life.
Zeigler is mining a seam that still has many buried elements. I admired the way she hinted at the attraction and friction between Afro-Americans and Jews, in a delicate and disturbing manner.
The skill of this production is the way that the creative team subtly reference Jewish art as a filament to link the two timelines. Actors evoke images from Chagall ‘s paintings in the brilliant direction and design Igor Golyak and Jan Papplebaum. Moments of absurdism, suggestive of Tadeusz Kantor’s Polish theatre, are realised in a constantly moving scenography.
The elliptical structure of the scenes means that there is no over-riding dramatic arc, rather an unfolding of elements which form a mosaic. This production boasts an exceptional British American cast. Alex Forsyth’s Abe is complex and nuanced. Anna Popplewell plays the fantasy woman Julia with humility and irony. Katerina Tannenbaum has great variety and stage presence. Paksie Vernon, as both the trickster and tricked, has an intelligence and dynamic force. The script could be accused of overloading, as the two storylines never quite fuse but perhaps that is Zeigler’s point.
The Wanderers
By Anna Zeigler
Directed by Igor Golyak
Marylebone Theatre
Julia Pascal
This is a fascinating mess of a play which engages on every level. Anna Zeigler’s conceit is literary as the narrative plays out two parallel timelines within designated chapters. Action starts around 1970 when Schmuli marries Esther. Both are Chassidic New York Jews. However, Second Wave feminism provokes Esther to question her role as baby-maker. This is conflict number one. Storyline number two focuses on her writer- son Abe’s desire for an extra-marital affair with Julia, a screen actor.
The Wanderers as a title raises questions. Esther wanders from Chassidic life. Abe wanders from his marriage towards online adultery. Does the interplay of these two offer a satisfying theatrical experience? Intellectually and culturally, they have connections. Think Philip Roth who is referenced in the text. Think Joan Micklin Silver’s 1975 film Hester Street and the 2017 Netflix series Shtisel both of which explore orthodox Jewish life.
Zeigler is mining a seam that still has many buried elements. I admired the way she hinted at the attraction and friction between Afro-Americans and Jews, in a delicate and disturbing manner.
The skill of this production is the way that the creative team subtly reference Jewish art as a filament to link the two timelines. Actors evoke images from Chagall ‘s paintings in the brilliant direction and design Igor Golyak and Jan Papplebaum. Moments of absurdism, suggestive of Tadeusz Kantor’s Polish theatre, are realised in a constantly moving scenography.
The elliptical structure of the scenes means that there is no over-riding dramatic arc, rather an unfolding of elements which form a mosaic. This production boasts an exceptional British American cast. Alex Forsyth’s Abe is complex and nuanced. Anna Popplewell plays the fantasy woman Julia with humility and irony. Katerina Tannenbaum has great variety and stage presence. Paksie Vernon, as both the trickster and tricked, has an intelligence and dynamic force. The script could be accused of overloading, as the two storylines never quite fuse but perhaps that is Zeigler’s point.
Julia Pascal © 2025.
By Julia Pascal • added recently on London Grip, plays, theatre • Tags: Julia Pascal, plays, theatre