(L-R) Gary Glasgow as Ishaq and Chuck Winning as Zeblyan, in NJT’s “Two Jews Walk Into A War…” Courtesy of New Jewish Theatre
“Two Jews Walk Into A War…” sounds like the start of a old joke and indeed there is plenty of humor in this bitingly funny play at the New Jewish Theater, but there is also heart and faith, and a shared commitment to an almost abandoned synagogue in Afghanistan. The problem is that these last two Jews in Kabul, and maybe in Afghanistan, can’t stand each other, even though they are both committed to preserving that crumbling last synagogue in Kabul. As absurd as all this seems, Seth Rozin’s play was inspired by a true story.
This darkly comedic play opens with those two hostile men and a coffin. The coffin belongs to a third man, the only person who could moderated between the other two, who was committed to maintaining that Kabul synagogue they shared. With that peacemaker now gone, it is just the two enemies left to take care of the temple.
Ishaq (Gary Glasgow) and Zeblyan (Chuck Winning) quickly engage in a battle of words, a series of zingers and darkly funny jabs directed at each other. As they snarl and insult each other, each pointed quip comes with a rim-shot sound effect, and the sound of something glass or ceramic crashing to the floor (thanks to Kareem Deanes’ spot-on sound design). It gives the whole opening scenes a stand-up comedy vibe, a battle of the comics.
And, boy, are things broken between this pair. Still, despite their raging animosity, both were devoted to the now-gone third man, and are determined to carry out his mission, to maintain the last synagogue in Kabul, Afghanistan. The first thing they have to figure out together is how to bury their beloved mutual friend.
It comes out that Ishaq’s and Zeblyan’s families have known each other for generations, but each family had prodded the other into bad decisions that led to this untenable predicament in Kabul. First, one family convinced the other to move to Afghanistan after the Holocaust, instead of America or Israel. Then, the other family convince the first one to stay in Kabul, arguing that the Taliban couldn’t last and they should just wait them out. Once, there had been a thriving Jewish community in Kabul but under Taliban rule, all the Jews had either left or died. All that remains is the battered synagogue and now these two angry men, the last two members of each family and the last Jews in Kabul. Each blames the other for the situation.
Despite their common mission to preserve the synagogue, these two men are very different people, which makes matters between them worse. Ishaq is an older man, a widower and a retired accountant, who is educated, formal and cultured. He is also very devout and knowledgeable the Torah. Zeblyan is the middle-aged owner of a carpet shop, more outgoing but not an intellectual. He’s less cultured, less neat, and less serious about his religion. He is determined to maintain the temple, in part, out of pure stubbornness. While his wife and children fled to America, he refused to leave. No one was going to chase him out of his home.
Both Chuck Winning as Zeblyan and Gary Glasgow as Ishaq are marvelous in this two-person play, crafting well-rounded characters and playing off each other beautifully – and with hilarious or dramatic effect as needed. Co-directors Aaron Sparks and Rebekah Scallet, who is also the Artistic Director of NJT, do any excellent job in letting these two actors shape the scene and tone in this single act play.
The set, by scenic designer Lily Tomasic, is both simple but perfect in its crumbling presence, creating a sense of a besieged, battered temple, with the corners of the building and a broken tile floor outlining the space. Michele Friedman Siler keeps the costumes simple but uses them to suggest shifts in tone and the relationship between the two men. A few props and a wall where the Torah was kept fill out the space. Of course, even the Torah is gone.
The older Ishaq hatches a crazy plot to revive the Jewish community, and as crazy as it is, he still convinces his frenemy Zeblyan to help put it in motion, which eventually opens the door to deeper conversations, a more complicated relationship between the two, and an exploration of the importance of place and of faith, as well as the power of human connection.
The play is splendid but it is elevated further by clever direction and staging, and the remarkable cast, who move seamlessly from one-liners, jokes and jabs, to more profound conversations. The vastly different personalities actually enhances the power of the connections formed through shared goals, but the two actors create characters who fee fully real and rounded, characters we quickly care about, even of their foibles make us laugh, and then think.
This is another excellent production, a well-chosen play enhanced by strong cast and intelligent direction, in the New Jewish Theater’s already-strong season. It is a very impressive start for artistic director Rebekah Scallet.
The New Jewish Theater’s production of “Two Jewish Walk Into A War…” is on stage at the St. Louis Jewish Community Center in Creve Coeur through Aug. 10.
© Cate Marquis
