Is the Menace the River, or the Man on the Bank? ‘On the Other Side of the River,’ Translated From Yiddish
Ken JaworowskiDecember 7, 2014: A bleak and cheerless mood seeps into nearly every moment of On the Other Side of the River, a play that’s admirable for the dark chances it takes, even when it’s less than engaging to watch. River tells the story of Mir’l (Jane Cortney), a young woman whose mother died giving birth to her. Her father drowned at about the same time, and Mir’l has since lived with her grandmother (Christine Siracusa) and blind grandfather (David Greenspan). The river waters that took her father’s life are rising again, threatening to bring more sorrow to the family. Amid the flood, Mir’l encounters a stranger (David Arkema) who both frightens and bewitches her. The waters recede, but her morbid obsession with the man intensifies. The play, written by Peretz Hirshbein around 1906 and staged at Here, has the feel of a fairy tale mixed with a nightmare. There’s constant talk of fate, of dreams, of souls, much of it dispensed with no emotion. The dialogue evokes Greek tragedy as well as expressionist and symbolist drama, and comes off as stiff and portentous to ears accustomed to naturalism.
READ THE REVIEW