The play’s first Yiddish production at a theatre in the Bowery is a hit, and so is one translated into English for the Provincetown Players – where Eugene O’Neill is an early admirer. Things are a little different when Asch, his wife and Lemml move to America, however. Aided by Lemml, a modest tailor who participated in the salon reading, The God Of Vengeance ends up getting produced, successfully, throughout Europe. Encouraged by his supportive wife Madje (Jessica Greenberg), he’s penned his first play, The God Of Vengeance, which recounts, among many other things, the tender love between a female prostitute and a brothel owner’s daughter.Īt a reading at an influential salon, the script’s same-sex storyline upsets some – the host even tells Asch he should burn the play – but the playwright believes in the work. In 1906 Warsaw, we meet Sholem Asch (Jonathan Gould), a young, optimistic Polish-Jewish poet and short story writer. He introduces the actors and musicians who will play several roles over the course of the show, but the full significance and setting of this scene won’t become evident until much later. Lemml, a stage manager, is one of the first characters we meet. “This play changed my life,” says the character Lemml (Matt Baram) near the outset of the show, and by the end you might feel the same way about Vogel’s script – and this wonderful Studio 180 production – too. But at its aching, beautiful heart it’s a play about the transformative power of theatre itself. Indecent, Paula Vogel’s remarkable play about a seminal work of Yiddish theatre, is many things: a portrait of a lesser known artist a love story a timely look at homophobia, artistic freedom and censorship, including self-censorship a tale of the Jewish diaspora and the Holocaust. $50-$99, limited $29 same-day rush available.

Runs at the CAA Theatre (651 Yonge) until November 6. INDECENT by Paula Vogel (Studio 180 production, presented by David Mirvish).

Indecent paula vogel script