Habimah
Habimah (“The Stage”) was originally founded
in Moscow in 1917 as a theater company. The company performed their
plays in Hebrew, the first
professional group ever to do so. Led by Nahum Zemach, the company aspired
to portray the problems of the Jewish people. Habimah had a few problems
of its own; many members of the Communist Party opposed the existence
of Habimah. Stalin, however,
allowed the group to continue to operate. In 1926, the company went abroad on tour. The following
year, in the United States, Habimah split. Zemach and several additional
actors remained in the U.S., while others decided to settle in Palestine. Tel Aviv was to become the new home for Habimah. In 1945, Habimah moved into
the building in which it now resides, in the heart of Tel Aviv. Thirteen
years later, it became the National Theater of Israel.
Habimah was not alone in theatrics in the yishuv.
Other companies came onto the scene to challenge Habimah's status. One
of these, the Cameri ("Chamber") Theater, was founded by Yosef
Milo in 1944. His approach was vastly different from that of Habimah.
Milo preferred a more Western-style company, separating it from the
East European pattern of Habimah. Many years later, the Cameri became
the official Municipal Theater of Tel Aviv.
The program seen here was for the play, The Mother,
the story of a woman who must cope with the violent deaths of her husband
and sons. The Hebrew was written by Avigdor Hameiri, whose talent as
a Hebrew poet, novelist, and translator was well-known. Born in Hungary,
Hameiri served in the Austro-Hungarian army during World War I. He was
taken prisoner by the Russians and was later set free. Hameiri's stories
reflect his experiences; many tell the stories of Jews fighting in other
people's wars, and the Jews role as scapegoat. Hameiri received many
prestigious awards for his work.
Sources: The Jewish Agency
for Israel and The
World Zionist Organization |