Review: My Name is Asher Lev

The play opens on Asher Lev (Robert Fridjhon) in his apartment in Paris reflecting on his early childhood in Brooklyn, New York. At the age of six he is overcome with a desire to draw, a dream which ultimately becomes an obsession. This obsession brings him into conflict with his parents, Hasidic Jews and the close knit community to which they belong.

Yet his parents also have obsessions that drive them: Asher’s father Aryeh (Alan Swerdlow) is an ambassador for The Rebbe. He is often away from home, travelling in the US and Europe,  spreading the word of Hasidism, building Yeshivas, facilitating the movement of survivors of the holocaust and Stalin’s Russia to places where they can practice their faith in safety.

Whilst his mother Rivkeh (Louise Saint-Claire) fights her traditional role of a mother and wife to study and obtain a degree in order to finish the work her brother, who died in a car accident, started.

At first sight it would appear to be a story of how a young man achieves his goal of becoming the artist he has always wanted to be, but it is in fact a story as old as time itself. The conflict between a father who believes his son should study and that art is a distraction, and a son who wishes to walk his own path. And, of course, the mother who is torn between the two men that she loves most in the world.

Overlaying this family conflict is the religion that all three love, but each interprets and expresses differently: The father who believes that the way to God is through saving his fellow man both physically and spiritually. He is a good man, yet emotionally distant from his family. Then there is the mother who believes that she must come second to her husband’s beliefs. She has a good heart but battles the dictates of a religion that confines her to the home.

The acting is subtle and whilst the focus is on Asher and his path to self-awareness played with passion by Robert Fridjhon, one cannot help but be impressed by the talent of Alan Swerdlow and Louise Saint-Claire, who take on multiple characters and convincingly portray each with just a slight change of clothing or posture.

My Name is Asher Lev is not an easy evening of entertainment, but it is a play for anyone and everyone (barring the very young) of all races and religions. It really does make everyone question their own family dynamic and how the sacrifice that one must make to achieve self-fulfillment may come with a heavy price that may not be undone.

NB DEETS:

Writer: Aaron Posner (adapted from the novel by Chaim Potok)

Director: Moira Blumenthal

Starring: Robert Fridjhon, Louise Saint-Claire and Alan Swerdlow

Location: Pieter Toerien Studio Theatre, Montecasino