Apples From the Desert at Theater J

Apples From the Desert

Theater J
1529 Sixteenth Street, NW Washington

A poignant drama about love and reconciliation adapted by one of Israel's most beloved authors from her own short story, this hit Israeli play follows the young Sephardic Rivka, a religious teenager, who falls for Dooby, a secular kibbutznik, at a dance class in Jerusalem. She arranges to follow him back to his kibbutz in the Negev Desert, but not before Rivka's orthodox parents bar her from leaving, forcibly at first, only to chase after Rivka as she flees. A timeless and timely confrontation between tradition and modernity becomes a moving reckoning, as the sweetest of meals is offered and two generations learn to make peace. Winner of Israel's Best Play Award, 2006.

Thru - Jan 6, 2013

Price: $35 - $60

Show Type: Drama

Running Time: 2 hrs with 1 intermission

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Apples From the Desert Reviews

Average Rating based on 4 reviews

Highly Recommended
Recommended
Somewhat Recommended
Not Recommended

Washington Post - Recommended

"... The play —thoughtfully acted in Johanna Gruenhut’s able, pointed production —gives the husband more presence, and his appearances onstage are brief but so forceful (particularly in Tolaydo’s controlled, powerful performance) that the women still define themselves in his shadow. Jennifer Mendenhall is understated and moving as Reuven’s wife, Victoria; imagine a turtle pulling its head into its shell, and you get an idea of Mendenhall’s hardened, protective portrait of a bullied woman."

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- Nelson Pressley

DC Theater Arts - Highly Recommended

"...The latest offering at Theater J, Savyon Liebrecht's Apples from the Desert, is an emotional family drama set in Israel. Although the characters in the play come close to becoming stock stereotypical characters, the strong performances add plenty of texture to these roles, resulting in a rich and moving production, directed with finesse by Johanna Gruenhut."

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- Doug Poms

Washingtonian - Highly Recommended

"... We’ve all seen this battle before—from Romeo and Juliet to My Big, Fat Greek Wedding to our own lives, parents have long balked at the idea that their progeny could have the audacity to challenge the way things are, often for a mate. The story could be set anywhere. But the fact that Liebrecht puts her characters in Jerusalem and the kibbutzes of the Negev desert, regions that in recent years have been riddled with gunfire and political conflict, gives the theme of two warring factions finding peace and compromise its own personal heft."

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- Gwendolyn Purdom

DCTheatreScene - Recommended

Sticks and stones may break our bones, but words can hurt far more. The sparring characters in Savyon Liebrecht’s play — a heartfelt look at the rifts in orthodox Jewish life in 1980s Jerusalem — sense this instinctively, eschewing the bluntness of physical blows for the far more searing, and intimate, power of language.

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- Hunter Styles

Apples From the Desert at Theater J