Tel Aviv’s prestigious Cameri Theatre is currently performing a moving piece called “Return to Haifa” at Theater J. Based on Palestinian author Ghassan Kanafani’s novella of the same name and adapted by Israeli playwright Boaz Gaon, “Return to Haifa” tells the story of Sa’id and Saffiyeh, a Palestinian couple who travel to Haifa from Ramallah in 1967 to see the house they used to live in.
| If you go |
| ‘Return to Haifa’ |
| » Where: Theater J, 1529 16th St. NW |
| » When: 7:30 p.m. Wed. and Thurs., 8 p.m. Sat.; 3 and 7:30 p.m. Sun., through Jan.30 |
| » Info: $30 to $60; 800-494-8497; boxofficetickets.com |
Their flight from Haifa was not by choice. It was occasioned by the confusion that reigned just before the end of the British mandate. In their haste, they were forced to leave their baby behind.
Using flashbacks to 1948, the play tells the story of another couple, the Jewish Miriam and Ephraim, who are settling into Sa’id and Saffiyah’s abandoned house. To Ephraim, who is grateful for living quarters, the house is a blessing, even though it comes with an unconventional addition — a baby, left there by his fleeing parents.
At first Miriam can’t accept the idea of raising another woman’s child. She’s particularly sensitive to the adoption since she and Ephraim have already lost one child in the Holocaust and she’s afraid she’ll lose another. But Ephraim convinces Miriam to go along with his scheme and all goes well. Until Sa’id and Saffiyeh show up wanting to see their house and to know what happened to their son. Half the play is a confrontation between Sa’id and Saffiyah on the one hand and Miriam on the other. By 1967, Ephraim has died and Miriam is struggling to keep the house going for herself and her son, Dov.
The cast of “Return to Haifa” is first-rate, as is its direction by Sinai Peter. Rada Adon plays Saffiyeh. She is excellent throughout, but particularly in the scene where she describes what it was like to be swept away from her home and her baby, herded by soldiers who wouldn’t let her return. Sa’id is portrayed by Suheil Haddad as a man both furious and deeply saddened by the conditions of his life.
Nisim Zohar lends humor to Ephraim, a man of spirit and imagination who is extremely close to his son as the child grows up. The wise and determined Miriam is played by Rozina Kambos as a woman who has been hardened by war but who is still humbled by the thought of losing her son. Erez Kahana plays Dov with power and sensitivity.
“Return to Haifa” plays until Jan. 30. It should be on every theatergoer’s to-do list.
