Nico's back, and She approaches with speed...

It is yom Shlishi...Tuesday and the 3rd day of the working week. In England I hate Tuesdays but here I like them a lot. Nico came back from nearly a month in Romania which was very, very welcome and he brought us all toblerones. Today was a really happy one. I translated a detailed scene-by-scene synopsis of Les Mouches (the Karov version) from French to English. I'd forgotten really how much I love translating and clarifying and re-clarifying things with words. Yofi! We have done a 10shekel (like, 1pound 20) for people from the Oranim program to come and see the play tomorrow with my English version in hand to see how much it helps.

I submitted a proposal to A at Oranim for Proyect Kanafiyim (The Wings Project) to get young Diaspora to the Karov and engaged with South Tel Aviv and the Tachana through a focused production and workshop in English. She called me and said she liked my proposal a lot which made me so glad and we will meet again next week to discuss it further.

Grigory has invited Nico and 7 actors to take part in the Lik Festival with a site-specific adaptation of Spirit Of The Forest which is so exciting. Nico's not sure about being able to adapt it for the smaller cast and for the forest there in Mikhailove but I do so hope he does.

Dorit and I still need to finalise the space for Undressing Cabaret but her little one has been poorly so we shall do it tomorrow. The e-flyer (and actual normal flyer) is beautiful and I am so proud to distribute it with my name on it in Ivrit. There is a woman called Ayelet Ron in the theatre now rehearsing with a massive dress from which 4 women emerge and do things with sticks by the sound of things.

Undressing Cabaret...taking the She Festival to the next step

SHE is coming together in all its vivid glory. The Woman In The Wall has now become Undressing Cabaret...a performance that is requiring time, energy and parts of my brain I didn't even know existed.

When I started to work with Dorit and prepared a "backstage"cabaret performance for her, her first response was, "Look, Alexa. Look. If you want to do a performance I will give you the stage and a microphone but you said you wanted a hidden space. Why? Why is it about hiding? Why is it about getting changed constantly? Where do the songs come from?"

I spent morning after evening after morning in the weeks that followed sitting with notebooks and pens and coffees, trying to write stories and repertoires for this hour-long, rotating performance. This wasn't a spur of the minute bluff, nothing was or is that to me anymore. Someone besides me saw a need in me to both perform and hide at the same time; to not stay still, to not engage straightforwardly with my audience. And I had no clue how to start or what to do.

How it came together (or started to...there is only a week left and there is still a long way to go) I will never be quite sure. But it has. And this afternoon I worked and worked and worked, structuring, singing, timing, changing, hiding and showing. For an hour and a half in total, probably, but it felt like a lifetime.

There is a show...a short one. A cheap, desperate cabaret/burlesque act of about 5 minutes. Then a retirement backstage to transform. Or rather attempt to, but really stay in the same place as we constantly find ourselves doing. And here the songs come in...incredible lyrics and tunes of journey, regression and an inherent pain that still exists years after we think we've started doing what we love.

I play with corsets, shoes, cheap make-up and words. I don't think, I do. It is hard to rehearse this with the language barrier. It makes me want to scream sometimes at the Karov that I a) don't know Hebrew that well and b) don't make the necessary time to learn properly because of all the other things I am doing here.

But I am doing it. And Dorit is amazing with me in her own way.

Last week I met the other women in She. Each one is very beautiful...all unusual looking with varying degrees of warmth and magnetism but all fit the Karov's (and, more specifically, Dorit's) vision and philosophy as to how an audience should learn from who and what it watches.

Tomorrow morning I will make four pictures out of make-up to mirror how I will change my face for each audience. Dorit may hate it but it is the first way I have found some method of working and visualising that is hands-on. A bit like when I started working at Tatty Devine and realised something about the importance of perfection. I thrive on imperfection. I love it...I love dirt, bodily fluids and singing off-key and disgusting, wrong mistakes and how people sum them up and analyse them to little end. But perfection is needed to maximise what you love-at least in mentality. It doesn't matter how grotesque and wonderful it is in the end. But the rounded whole must be a goal.

The Karov Theatre - the week after Yom Ha Shoah, IDF Memorial Day and the build towards independence...

It is a bitty time of year in Israel. First we have Pesach - a two-week holiday, then the weeks following are consumed with memory and looking backward, forward and at the present in the light and darkness behind the fun that is Tel Aviv and Israel.

I have just submitted an application to the Paideia Project Incubator in Sweden...an institute sponsored by the European Jewish Cultural Fund to link Israel with European Diaspora. On behalf of the Karov Liron and I could go and learn how to take things further with our international applications and initiatives.

PK (or Project Kanafayim - The Wings Project) comprises the following ventures for a 2-3 year series:
- She London - a twin mini-festival at the New End Theatre, Hampstead, providing a collaborative platform and creative education for female performers and practitioners in Israel and the UK.
- The Man From There (Paris production and workshop) - a revival of the Holocaust play in the French capital next Yom Ha Shoah.
- The Karov at InFoMaT, Athens (International Festival Of Making Theatre) - an opportunity for Dorit to teach a variety of European directors, actors and drama students about the importance of Israeli community theatre beyond its immediate location.
- Communism As Taught To The Mentally Ill and Hotel Europe in a special Eastern European teaching tour in community centres, schools, fringe theatres and institutes of higher education.
- Wings Internship and Education program - an accompanying opportunity to each project for two young Diaspora to work alongside the Karov in their home community, to build a unique perspective on international arts and Israel.

So fingers crossed. If I don't get the Paideia thing, Liron, Linor and I will hopefully go to Edinburgh for August. I want so badly to show them the playground on the Meadows and all the other stuff.

Last night the program took us to a memorial ceremony at a naval base in Haifa. It was the perfect place for it by the sea and it was incredible to see the navy kids and older people as well as the Army. It was a very difficult day thought-wise, that is all I can say really in writing. There were 2 silences, one in the night and one at 11 this morning.
Tonight there are parties everywhere to build up to Independence Day tomorrow. I will be again I think in Kikar Rabin with the Brazillian contingent. Moaan told me today she also is learning Spanish. I must work more on the Ivrit-Espanol swap-love with Liron as it is so much fun and I learn a lot from her. I wonder if it is connected to the fact that we both have teacher mothers.

Anyhow, I would really like your thoughts on the Wings Project and if anyone has any ideas to add. Gems of Mazal is coming on grand. I have a business plan to do before Thursday which is a huge old document but I like doing them because I am a freak. xx

She 2010...First coverage and mucho excitimondo

Well, we have been invited to the Lik Festival by Grigory Kofman (the nice Russian director from the bench in Kiryat Motzkin). Liron and Linor spoke to Nico to propose the task of adapting and directing Chekhov's Spirit Of The Forest for 7 actors, 1 and a half hours and, er, a forest. Nico is in Romania and says that they are all too nice to him there and it is unnatural. In celebration we opened a pleasant bottle of wine and created a bar-type arrangement in the corridor.

Last week Linor took some lovely pictures of Dorit and me for the She Festival (see Woman In the Wall for more on my piece). Some very exciting contortions occurred, many of them involving a ladder.

Our first mention of the year on ynet can be found here. In a brief translation/summary, The Karov Theatre will present a variety of female performers through various media including participants from Berlin and London. Watch this space as The Woman In The Wall grows within various Karov corners. Briut xx

היש משם - The Man From There. Holocaust Memorial Day at the Karov

National Holocaust Day in Israel is like nothing on earth. I went to three commemorative events, the first being a beautiful evening ceremony at the Cameri. Opening with a children's choir, followed by candle-lighting by survivors and solo vocal and guitar performances, the ceremony was incredibly moving. I liked that it was all in Ivrit although I only literally understood 20-30%...but the meaning of everything was clear. Even clearer though was the indescribable union of every person present. I went with J, L and others from the South American contingent. I loved this because after a particularly special piece of music or story J would lean to me and say, "Beautiful, so beautiful." and it was all my favourite moments too.

A lot of people here of my generation and situation are in Israel for the memory, purpose and carrying the word of their great-uncles, aunts and others who died in the Holocaust. My father's family, although Ashkenazim, were okay because they left Eastern Europe (to our knowledge) in the late, er, 20s maybe. My mother's uncles, however, both suffered acutely in the Second World War although they were Sephardic and grew up in Iraq, Persia then Palestine - moving around with my great-grandfather's work as he travelled as principal of the Alliance Francaise. In the late 30s my grandmother went to study at the Surbonne in Paris but then had to leave to go to England because of the war. She had two younger brothers. The middle one, Sammy, was captured and had half his face destroyed in the Second World War. I don't know how long he was imprisoned for. After the war, however, he went on to marry and have children but his wife died when they were 12, 9 and 4 and Sammy sought even further refuge in the shop he owned. He died in 1996. I don't ever remember meeting him but there is one photo of him holding me as a baby. His middle daughter Timna (my mother's first cousin) is my mother in Israel and one of my best friends. My youngest great-uncle Marco took his own life shortly after being sent to fight in France at the beginning of the Second World War. He was 21. My grandmother was the last family member to see him alive. It is him I remember (or rather don't) with particular...I don't know what, but something.

On the morning of 12 April itself a siren sounded at 10am to mark the start of a minute's silence. The whole Oranim program was at a special memorial at Ironi Yud Bet - the school where we have Ulpan. To be honest, it was something of a shambles because the construction work going on outside was so loud we could hear neither the siren nor the speeches or songs by teachers and pupils which followed.

The Man From There (היש משם) was written by Holocaust survivor Tuvia Ornan and directed by Dorit. In it we see the quintessential young Israeli couple at the start of their married life. They are brash and materialistic, she is pregnant, and there is a questionable third party involved - a young man returning at intervals from business abroad, laden with various bits of eurotrash. Amongst all this we have Grandma whose survival of the Shoah is best forgotten or at least ignored...who knows what cans of worms it might open up.

And finally, as we suspend disbelief and peel the layers of our own doubt, we have Moishe: a young man who has lived through Auschwitz to the present day, witnessing the creation of Israel and maintaining his youth and memory. Whilst maintaining an age-old friendship with the grandmother, Moishe proposes an unusual business plan to his contemporary counterparts: a present-day Auschwitz to educate the Israelis of the 21st Century complete with original layout, function and Nazi commanders. Sensing a monetary opportunity, the present-day men comply and relationships, friendships and moral judgement are thrown into chaos.

The kind of modern play which merges time-travel, family drama and social commentary doesn't generally wash with me. However, in the context of Yom Ha Shoah, The Man From There trod the fine balance of past and present, fantasy and reality, and the inevitable questions for modern Jews, particularly in Israel:

In giving birth to our children and then our grandchildren and their children, how do we lighten this burden from prejudice and scapegoating that is so recent? We must never, never forget and this must never happen again. And in the State of Israel - a developed homeland with a democracy where Western living is permitted and modernisation a key component, how can we look back to look forward without the gross intervention of materialism?

Afterwards the writer answered questions which was very moving, particularly those of the young Israelis soldiers in the audience (18-24ish) who started the evening looking bored as whatever and ended it completely engaged and full of thoughts and questions. I can't remember what they were now (they had to be translated for me) but there is something very warm about Israeli audiences on nights such as this. There are tears without sentimentality and people say things they mean.

If you are reading this and are in Israel, please, please come to the Karov. It's a very special place.

With love,

Alexa.

Shapira - 2nd installment: Alexa and friends

PHOTOGRAPHIC EVIDENCE.

Hello. Welcome to Clinca Karov...4 shows for 100nis and an exclusive appointment with "Doktor Cultura" aka Rafael Adi and a scant ushering service courtesy of Achot Alexa.

In the tiny Shapira neighbourhood, men, women and children flocked to songs, sounds and tambourines to learn about Nico Nitai's Karov Theatre.



Although we were stationed a 3-minute walk from the Tachana Merkazit (Central Bus Station), few new friends knew about us although most were familiar with Nico's name and work.
Rafi and I thus created our own bus stop with the aid of an amiable tree, bringing the Karov's location into our larksome playtimes.

For the most part I donned a tambourine.






Alexa and friends:
Left we have the beautiful Linor (chief photographer), pictured in schoolgirl get-up complete with cigarettes and fetching hair ribbon.

Doctor Rafi indulges in a little risque peeping Tomness and Alexa wears an authentic shawl from backstage.

Below we have Liron - a symphony in turquoise and veritable songbird of the Karov quintet. She can ring my bells any day.

Also pictured below is Rudi...lead singer and guitarist of Rutsi Buba and very talented at other things besides. He used to be in-house tech manager at the Karov in the days before girlfriend Linor became resident production manager. You can see me clapping along to the beat in the background. You don't have to look that carefully.

Shapira Shapira Shapira

The Shapira Festival, 06/04...ESI YOFI.

Yesterday we set out from the Karov to the Shapira neighbourhood, 3 minutes' walk South of the Tachana Merkazit but longer with:
- the Karovmobile (not a car, a wooden box-office type contraption on wheels)
- Rafi "Doktor Cultura" Adi
- Linor "naughty schoolgirl (complete with satchel, handbell and hair-ribbon)" Kruzuk
- Me with corset, rabbit ears etc, and
- Liron

Shapira is the new old Nevesedek where there are lots of kids everywhere and small front rooms and grocers turned into public galleries and hang-out spots for the "festival". For the first couple of hours we were the only attraction, singing, dancing and re-enacting the spontaneous "Clinica Cultura" with Rafi the Rofe (doctor). Passers-by - children and adults and pets etc - were all really interested in the Karov and open to the on and off-street Karovian antics on offer. More so than in England. It was a Royal Mile just for us.

Yesterday I didn't have much koach having been up so early to take my dad to the airport et al so my bestest part of the day was playing with the children. There were three huge metal punch bags on chains hanging from a tree and you could bash them into each-other to make a noise. The neighbourhood provides wooden sticks with which to hit the metal punchbags and lo pasabamos bomba!

We stayed to promote the Karov in Shapira for four hours and had beer and cigarettes. Here were the three most beautiful things about it, I thought:

1. Rafi gave out sweets, all the the children as well as the interested adults, and everyone took them.
2. If you smoke and drink whilst promoting at a festival in Shapira it is not seen as derogatory or lazy or immature in relation to your cause. Rather it reflects an affinity which is even more attractive to locals.
3. Today I had an amazing conversation with Linor (naughty schoolgirl) who is the longest serving Karov persona except Nico and she lives in Shapira and said that to see it in festival mode and linked with her work enforced her love of living there.

For those of you living in Israel, we have a membership deal of 4 plays for 100NIS (about 15pounds). You can find more info here or post a comment and I'll get back to you.

Last night I cooked dinner and talked lots with F about the difference between North and South Tel Aviv - how South TA for me is the Israel of the future with its cultural diversity and laid-back welcome so inherent on days like yesterday.

There were a lot of art-recycling projects. Linor's favourite was the one with burnt chairs, reinstalled to become free-moving mechanisms which drew on a white wall with their charcoal remnants. I really liked the dismantled massive cardboard boxes and white paint next to where we were. So many children were going crazy and the way their freedom and inhibition came out in the patterns and sculpture-type things they made was just amazing.

Shapira looks a lot like an Israeli Kennington but without the yuppy wank. If I stay here beyond June I will def live there.