Limelight — May 2017

MAY 2017 http://www.limelightmagazine.com.au

OKEYNOTES

20 LIMELIGHT

Guest column

I

nIsraeltoday,theinformalbanonplaying

Wagner’s music at live performances still

stands,althoughoccasionalexposureon

radioandTVhasbecomeacceptable.The

interrupted performance by Zubin Mehta

ofaWagnerworkin1981,aswellasDaniel

Barenboim’sill-fatedattemptwithaGerman

orchestrain2001,aretwoexamplesof

whatisstillageneralantipathy.

It would seem, however, that with Israel’s

diminishingnumbersofHolocaustsurvivors

andwithsubsequentgenerationswhose

connectionstotheHolocaustarenotasdirect,

issuesofthisnaturearenolongerofprimary

concern. The youth in Israel have other

pressingmatterstooccupytheirattention.My

new play,YouWillNotPlayWagner,reflectsthe

debatewithinamicrocosm–adebatebetween

twocharacterswithopposingviewpoints

whofocusonthefactthatnotonlydoes

this dilemma still survive, it can still arouse

passions whenever it comes to the fore.

It’sobviouslyananomalythatexistsinIsrael

alone.Barenboim’schoiceoforchestracouldonly

rubsaltintosomeveryrawwounds.Itseemsto

reflectacertainill-consideredandthoughtless

arrogance.Whetherhewouldhaveexperienced

greater accommodation with an Israeli orchestra,

wouldhave,Ithink,dependedonthetactand

sympathy inherent in the approach. In this case

it was extremely heavy-handed, with seemingly

little thought given to those most affected by

their association with Wagner’s music. Instead,

the emphasis lay with what Barenboim wanted.

Thereactionwas,I’mafraid,predictable.

Idon’tbelievethatit’saquestionofconditions

under which performing Wagner might be more

acceptablebutratherthesimplepassageoftime.

In time, Israel accepted VW and Mercedes Benz

AQUESTIONOFWAGNER

In his new play,Victor GordonimaginesaconfrontationbetweenayoungIsraeliconductorkeento

hear Wagner played in his homeland and an elderly Holocaust survivor who, it seems, won’t budge

on their roads as well as German reparations

which were vehemently opposed by some

andregardedasjustbyothers.Therearenow

probablyaslargeavarietyofGermangoods

on the Israeli market as anywhere else and

diplomatic relations are strong. Wagner is an

anomalywithnodirectbearingonanything

tangible like the economy, security, inter-state

cooperation,diplomaticcontactetc.It’ssimply

“there”,anemotionallydriventhrowbackfrom

thepastwhichcomestolightnowandagain

to remind us that evil can be couched within

what would otherwise be a benign culture, and

what its terrible consequences can be.

Curiosity, and a desire to seek drama within

everyday situations drew me to this debate as

material for the theatre. The essence of drama

is conflict, and confrontation can naturally lead

todebateinoneformoranother.Theconflict

withinthisargumentofferedsomeinteresting

possibilities which I felt the need to explore.

Someofthechallengesofdramatisingthe

issueincludedplacingitwithinaplotthat

provided a platform for debate while being

entertaining and not degenerating into a

docudramaorlecture.Also,tryingtoachievea

balancebetweentheissuespresentedbyboth

parties while pushing the plot to its conclusion.

The young conductor Ya’akov (Benedict

Wall)ismotivatedtochooseaWagner

workforhisperformanceinthefinalsofa

conductingcompetitionbothfortheshock

value and a genuine love of the music. But

there’sathirdelementaswell–agenuine

desiretoridhimselfandthenation(ashesees

it)ofthealbatrossoftheHolocaust.Theneed

to move past the ‘elephant in the room’.

AsaHolocaustsurvivoropposedtothe

performanceofWagner–andapatronofthe

competition–Ihavetriedtoportraysome

understanding by the character of Esther (Annie

Byron),ifnotoutrightsympathy.Thisonly

comestotheforetowardsthefinalmoments

of the play when she accepts that the world has

movedonandotherpointsofviewhavestarted

toemerge.It’snotanyeasytransition.

Asthewriter,Ihavefromthebeginning,

takennopositioninthedebate.IfIdid,my

concernwasitmightbereflectedwithin

thescript.IthinkInowhaveagreater

understanding of both viewpoints. My greatest

rewardwouldcomefromknowingaudiences

discuss these issues having seen the play.

Victor Gordon’sYou Will Not Play Wagneris

at Eternity Playhouse, Sydney May 4 – 28

Barenboim’s approach

washeavy-handedwith

little thought given to

those most affected

Annie Byron and Benedict Wall