ART AND THEATRE

Last week I (Lola) had a great day out with our daughter when we went by train to Tel Aviv to see the Van Gogh Alive exhibition which was held in the Maxi Dome at the Israeli Trade Fairs and Convention Centre. Our enjoyment began immediately on leaving the Jerusalem Station as the almond blossom and fantastic array of wild flowers that we passed on either side of the railway line as it passes through the Judean Hills were a delight to the eyes.

VAN GOGH ALIVE

We left the train at the University Station expecting to take a taxi but discovered that the exhibition site was only over the road from the station and the Maxi Dome just a minute’s walk from the entrance to the site. For anyone who enjoys Vincent Van Gogh’s vibrant paintings this multi-media art exhibition which was created in Australia and is set to a powerful score of classical music is a must. More than two thousand of the famous Dutch artist’s paintings are projected onto huge screens, pillars and even the floor of the exhibition hall. There are also scenes of locations in France such as Arles, Auvers-sur-Oise and Saint Remy that inspired many of his paintings as well as extracts from his writings. The artist’s moods of severe depression which eventually led to his presumed suicide, were cleverly shown by the grouping together of his darker paintings, all noticeably lacking his favourite colour, yellow, and accompanied by somber music. Sometimes the pictures come alive as when the ominous black birds in one of the landscapes, Wheatfield with Crows, suddenly “flew’ out of the painting and around the exhibition hall or the ripe corn in another of the country scenes, rippled gently in the wind.

The presentation lasts for approximately half an hour and is continuous so we very happily watched it through three times, each one from a different vantage point, before going in search of some lunch and then once again, before going back to the station to catch our train back to Jerusalem. The only low point of the day was the lunch, horrible and over-priced sandwiches at the exhibition cafeteria, but I suppose one can’t have everything.

HAIRSPRAY

We have written on several occasions about the Jerusalem-based Encore Educational Theatre Company which gives so much pleasure to the Anglo community and many Hebrew-speakers too with its excellently performed musical shows. This month we went to see the Youth section of Encore’s production of Hairspray, a musical about which we previously knew very little but discovered that it is set in 1962, Baltimore and deals with the theme of prejudice of various kinds, against fat people, people with dark skins and those of different sexual orientation. A programme note stated , “The production is dedicated to those in Jerusalem who rejoice in other’s differences,” and we were happy to see that some of the prejudices depicted in the production, mainly the veto on the mixing of people of different coloured skins, has almost disappeared today. Most of the African-American rolls were played by Ethiopian teenagers from the Malkat Shva Centre for Ethiopian culture in Jerusalem’s Talpiot neighbourhood who were obviously greatly enjoying their first stage appearances. There was also a mix of Brits, Americans, Israelis, Canadians and one Jamaican among the very talented cast.

GREAT MUSIC

The excellent band belted out the rollicking sixties tunes and any minor faults or weaknesses were easy to ignore as all the lead parts were most professionally sung, danced and acted and the audience soon became infused with the sheer energy and joyfulness emanating from the stage. We returned home, together with our young Israeli friends to whom we have been introducing Gilbert and Sullivan’s comic operas and British and American musicals, in a very cheerful mood, all of us singing the lively tunes from the show.

 

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