“The Dybbuk” by Bruce Myers, translated by Louiza Mitsakou, directed by Sotiris Hatzakis and with the music of Savvina Giannatou

The Michael Cacoyannis Foundation hosts the National Theatre of Northern Greece which presents Bruce Myers’ “The Dybbuk” under the auspices of the Ministry of Culture’s programme; “Thessaloniki, Cultural Crossroads, 2011 Middle East”. The play is based on the work “The Dybbuk” by Shalom Ansky, translated by Louiza Mitsakou, directed by Sotiris Hatzakis and with the music of Savvina Giannatou. The performance, which is a modern version of Romeo and Juliet, will be hosted at the Theatre of the Michael Cacoyannis Foundation, from Friday, the 23rd of March, 2012 to Sunday, the 1st of April, 2012

A Note from the Director
A man and a woman shudder from the dominant rhythm of love. They wish to be united, as the old oath their parents made demands. But the oath is breeched. The man dies of sorrow, but his spirit, that can’t find just, shall possess the body of his beloved and deny leaving it, by that defying the laws that separate the deceased from the living.
 
And so the story of “The Dybbuk” begins. It is a story about the intense presence of love and God and not a story about their absence.

Our existence begins at birth and it is a pity when it loses its substance. It shall eventually understand its loss, it shall nostalgically reminisce the innocence and shall desire to destroy; as to return in the great Nothing, the non-existing, the divine blank that was liberated, while we were absent, shall once again spread in its harmonic union. This is the tragic secret that human thought started to realize through times, from Oedipus and Job to Strindberg, Kafka and Becket. The same thing becomes evident through the Greek laments, the ecstatic movements of the Shamans, the mourning Whirling Dervishes, the prayers and Terirem chants of the Orthodox, the stories of those in respect of joy of the Hassidic Kabbalah.

For as long as God is absent, our religious existence rises, as solitude makes us transparent and despair brightens us up. This is the way I personally understand Hannan’s love for Leah-le, as mourning for the great absence. But even this love itself dies as soon as it begins. Is it that this love mourns itself like the boy in Becket’s End Game that looks at his belly button?

Actors should hear these words and then forget them, for this is the only way they will be able to remember them and tell us this story, the Jewish version of Romeo and Juliet that has its roots in Jewish mysticism and Kabbalah. I hope the ecstasy from the rites and rituals will affect their souls during the performance.
 
I would like to express my gratitude to Bruce Myers for our treasured talks as well as Stefanos Rozanis for teaching us the rites of the Kabbalah mentioned in the play. I wish everyone attending the performance can feel in their body those things that the mind cannot understand, for God, love and absence is felt deep within us.

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The opening of the performance has been held at New Hyperoon Stage, Society for Macedonian Studies, on Sunday, December 25, 2011.

National Theatre of Northern Greece presents Bruce Myers’ “Dybbuk” in Moscow on the 16th and 17th of March 2012, as the theatre was chosen to represent the Union of the Theatres of Europe (together with six more performances) at the festival organized by Maly Theatre, Moscow.

Following, the performance will be hosted at the Theatre of the Michael Cacoyannis Foundation, from Wednesday 21 of March, 2012 to Sunday 1 of April, 2012, and right after that a European tour will follow. “The Dybbuk” inaugurates the “International Stage” of NTNG that aims to present productions abroad, making its presence known to the foreign scene.

“Thessaloniki Cultural Crossroads” programme is realized with the financial aid of OPAP S.A.