Shakespeare in Yiddish? It may sound like an incongruous idea but Yiddish Theatre has a longstanding and creative connection to the great works of the bard.

The Merchant of Venice has always been popular with Jewish theatre-makers and goers because it featured the only Jewish protagonist in the bard’s repertoire. But when Ukrainian-born American playwright Jacob Gordin (1853–1909) wrote The Jewish King Lear in 1892, he turned the shund (“trash”) of turn-of-the century dancehall-style Yiddish theatre into serious drama. This play was no mere Yiddish translation of the Shakespearean tragedy, but a reworking of the original in a Jewish context. Yiddish translations of other classics including Hamlet, Othello, Romeo and Juliet and Julius Caesar soon followed, establishing a rich tradition of Shakespeare originals performed in Yiddish.

Now, as we return to lockdown to battle a “plague on (all) our houses”, the Kadimah Yiddish Theatre has created a series of short and sweet pandemic podcasts for us to dip into and enjoy at our leisure while theatres remain dark.

Recorded at Melbourne Theatre Company’s studios in June 2020, fortuitously in the brief few weeks of relative freedom between lockdown periods, the KYT has created a series of four monologues. You don’t need to understand Yiddish to enjoy these brief excerpts of some of Shakespeare’s most famous works, read by KYT Artistic Co-Directors Evelyn Krape and Galit Klas, KYT ensemble member Josh Reuben and Yiddish literary maven Danielle Charak.

Sonnet #18
Read by Danielle Charak
Text translated by B. Lapin
Length: 1 minute, 43 seconds

Lady Macbeth
Galit Klas as Lady Macbeth
Yiddish text by Danielle Charak and Floris Kalman
Length: 2 minutes, 9 seconds

Hamlet
Evelyn Krape as Hamlet
Yiddish text by D. M. Hermalin
Length: 3 minutes, 50 seconds

The Merchant of Venice
Joshua Reuben as Shylock
Yiddish text by Joseph Bovshover
Length: 2 minutes, 44 seconds

CREDITS:

Cover art by A.D Lester
www.adlesterillustration.com/

Recorded at the Melbourne Theatre Company
Sound engineer: Joy Weng
Music and Mixing: Ben Dorron

Special thanks to Melbourne Theatre Company, Kadimah Jewish Cultural Centre, Idan Itzhayek, Tomi Kalinski, Floris Kalman.

Created with the assistance of the Erdi Foundation, Gandel Philanthropy, Besen Family Foundation and other private donors.

Kadimah Yiddish Theatre (KYT)

Yiddish Theatre has a 120 year history in Melbourne. The Kadimah Yiddish Theatre honours its rich past while evolving to create contemporary Australian work through a unique Yiddish lens.