Two interesting festivals open the month of December. The Short Theatre Festival with 8 premieres at the Tzavta Theater in Tel Aviv. And the Jewish Music premiere at the Begin Center in Jerusalem. By Chiquita Levov
“Short Theatre Festival” in Tzavta
The festival “Katzar” by Tzavta The Tzavta Theatre returns for its 26th year with three days of innovative theatre, dedicated to plays of different genres lasting 15-20 minutes. This is an important and central stage for premieres along with the “Fringe” plays by well-known theatre actors, combining the best young creators with veterans, a special evening of “short” plays (4-7 minutes per performance) and events in the public space of the Tzavta complex. This year’s participants include, Alma Dishi, Ohad Kanoller, Ilil Semel, Tuval Shapir, Noam Imber,
and others, along with dozens of young and promising actors and creators. The producer is Haim Vider director of Tzavta. We warmly recommend this as a great theatre festival. It takes place in the theatre halls and other spaces from 5 to 7 December. More information: https://www.tzavta.co.il/event/3855
Ohad Kanoller
The artistic direction is by Tamar Keinan and Noa Shechter They say: “The works presented this year on the Tzavta stages as part of the festival manage to express with humour, pain, intensity and love all the things that are impossible to express in words every day. This is the last festival that we manage artistically, we wrap it with love and compassion, and we hope that together with the dozens of creators, actors, writers, directors and the public who will come to share the work with us, we will succeed. A weekend imagining the day after, the myths. Let more be written about this time and our future here, shining with the bright colours of silence.”
Alma Dishi
For this 26th edition of the Short Theatre Festival, the shows have been carefully selected from hundreds of offerings. For years it has been an incubator for the development of new ideas, which begin with a “short” and then develop into full-length shows. This year’s program includes wild comedies, plays about war, and contemporary versions of Greek mythology. The 8 new plays divided into two groups will be performed in the two main halls of the theater. In addition, a play will be presented in the director’s office and there will also be a “short” event in collaboration with the actors of the Seminar Hakibutzim, where 4- to 7-minute plays on the theme of Conspiracies will be presented. (9.12)
“The spectacular world of Jewish music”
Begin Center
The association “The spectacular world of Jewish music” continues to present this year in Jerusalem the series of very diverse Jewish music shows, under the theme of “When classical meets klezmer”. This is an association that aims to introduce the general public to the variety of styles of Jewish music and thus bring it to the forefront in Israel. The authorities of the association report that they are always looking for new groups and in this series they will present classical music with Jewish influences, Klezmer music and poetry, performed by local orchestras and ensembles. The series consists of 4 diverse musical programs: A show with songs in Ladino, a show with Klezmer music and Naomi Shemer, a poetic concert with mandolin soloists and Jewish liturgical music with the Soleron Ensemble. They will be presented in the auditorium of the Menachem Begin Heritage Center, Jerusalem. On December 3, 10, 15 and 17.
The event opens with a show of songs in Ladino with contemporary arrangements by Dganit Daddo and her band in a special tribute to Matilda Cohen Serrano, who passed away this year, a writer, researcher and poet who participated in the cultivation of the language, culture and folklore of the Spanish Jewish heritage. Dganit, actress and singer, will offer the best romances and poetry in Ladino. The second is a show of Jewish liturgy with the Solaron Ensemble. With a program dedicated to 400 years of Hebrew liturgy. Songs, prayers and melodies from the XNUMXth century to the present day, performed by a choir and accompanied by an instrument. The ensemble was founded by director Rami Barber in collaboration with his wife, singer and therapist Irit Barber, in honor of a project that aims to unite Jewish folklore and German folklore.
Mandolin Orchestra
The third meeting will feature the Haprita Orchestra, composed of Israeli mandolin soloists led by Yaki Reuven. It will present works from the classical and contemporary repertoire along with older works with a classical and Jewish context. In parallel to these works, the ensemble undertook to rewrite klezmer music for the mandolin format. The fourth will feature the Nashot Hava (Eve's Women) Ensemble, a combination of klezmer music and the songs of Naomi Shemer, as a special tribute to this immortal singer on the twentieth anniversary of her death. It will be performed by singer-songwriter Tamar Giladi, Naomi Shemer's daughter-in-law.