The Table
The Akko Festival, Tmuna Theatre
Debut performance: 19/09/2013, Akko Festival
Creators: Ronnie Brodetzky, Yael Turgeman
Writing: Ronnie Brodetzky
Movement: Yael Turgeman
Production: Inbal Bay
Set Design: Illy Levy and Tamar Or
Costume: Ronnie Schlesinger
Music: Nadav Vikinski
Lighting: Shai Skiba, Amihai Elharar, Tamar Or
Cast: Gili Beit Hallahmi, Irit Gidron, Alma Dishy/Ortal Avnaim Fridman
Photography: Gili Levinson.
About the play:
The Table is a tragicomedy that blends several genres: story theatre that incorporates techniques from object theatre and dance theatre.
This is the story of a girl who enters her father's study. Using the objects on the writing desk, she creates an imaginary alternate universe that will rescue her from everyday difficulties. We begin to discover the little girl's rich inner life in ways that are both comic and poetic. The leaves of the table dance, dreams are revealed on the slip of paper from her father's calculator, the calendar speaks, and more.
All of this is part of a desperate attempt to escape from the outside world, which is closing in on her: a mother who disappears into her books and later disappears completely, a father who neglects her while he takes care of her mother, and a neighbor who sexually abuses her.
The story is told by three actresses playing the roles of the girl, the dead mother, and the grandmother.
From the reviews:
Come sit at the table, and enjoy a delightful theatrical experience that’s filled with love and impossible to remain indifferent to..."
Ofir Bar Hillel, Mevaker BaTheatron
The creators deserve our compliments for providing food for thought, for leaving a mark, and for the fact that their work is not erased from our memory as soon as the applause is over.
Tamar Rotem, Haaretz
"...Gili Beit Hallahmi is captivating in the role of the little girl, especially thanks to her sparkling eyes. She puts up a true fight onstage, giving everything she’s got and then some more... "
Merav Yudilevich, Ynet
"This beautiful show lets us see elements we take for granted, such as paper, in a new light. Creators Ronnie Brodetzky and Yael Turgeman have succeeded in transforming the paper in the father's study, in its various forms and products, into an essential part of the set, into props and marvels. And then there is the desk, which becomes a fourth character in the cast of three marvelous actresses. Its legs are steady and it seems as though nothing can move it from its place or destabilize it; and yet the heroines of the play appear from within it, and at some point the little girl even breaches its walls and moves from one space to another, violating the laws of nature. Unlike her father who failed to protect her, unlike her mother who dismissed her screams about the landlord, the table is her armor, protecting her from the demons who menace from every direction.
The work of Brodetzky and Turgeman, along with the design work of Illy Levy, have turned this seemingly ordinary story, so very Israeli and so very human, into an exciting, high-quality work that bleeds paper into the wooden desk."
Irit Raav, Martha Yodaat magazine
