Reading Hebron at Orange Tree Theatre

Reading Hebron at Orange Tree Theatre

14 February, 2011
by: Naima Khan

Naima Khan reviews the onslaught of questions that is Reading Hebron at Orange Tree Theatre.

"There are no answers, only positions," says one of the multitude of characters in Jason Sherman's Reading Hebron at Orange Tree Theatre. Between five actors there must be well over a dozen parts played and few of them as middling as the quote I've plucked out. But this is a line that's at least a little comforting to an audience who've shown up to see a play about the problematic Middle East conflict.

First produced in 1995, Reading Hebron follows the incredibly confused thoughts of non-Israeli Jew Nathan Abramowitz as he tries to understand whether he has any part in the massacre at the Cave of the Patriarchs in February 1994 when a Jewish settler killed 29 Muslims in prayer.

Linked to Israel through his Jewish heritage, Abramowitz finds himself associated with a land he's never been to and blasted from all angles by issues of identity and belonging. His mother and his Jewish co-worker both have their thoughts on why the Holocaust warrants a Jewish state, but few Israelis welcome Abramowitz' investigations into the massacre. Stirring the mix are his non-Jewish ex-wife and inevitably confused children. Into his head burst the opinions of theorist Edward Said, Palestinian Christian Hanan Ashrawi, and Noam Chomsky.

Is Abramowitz no more than a self-hating Jew practising a diluted form of his religion? Or is he right in thinking that those who allow atrocities to happen are just as guilty as the perpetrators? And what does that mean for the rest of us? These questions are all asked, but never substantially investigated. At times the script blazes as Nathan grapples with his grandfather's way of worshipping and the view of New York Times' columnists, but it has a fair few weak spots and some parts of the play are completely unmemorable.

Creating a collage of thoughts and delivering them at breakneck speed through a great cast does work. But there's little time for contemplation, and when things do slow down, it gets a little boring. Like most trains of thought on the issue, this play is a muddle. But a good one. It brings together issues that need to be brought together. Are assimilationists just cop outs? And can Abramowitz really understand the soul of his “intellectual pet project”? Well, there's not enough time to think about it during the play and it doesn't garner much discussion afterwards. But Reading Hebron is still worth seeing even (especially?) if it leaves you with no one to blame. 

Reading Hebron runs at Orange Tree Theatre until 12th March

Naima Khan