The diversification of the Yiddish theater in the XIX-th century
After the divisions of Poland in the end of XVIII-th century, the Jewish masses collected on the walking of big empires, especially austro-Hungarian and tsarist, are going to be subjected to different forms of discrimination and to particular rules. Their life as social as cultural is upset by the economic and political alterations which know these countries during XIX-th century. The Yiddish theater is going to change in a radical way.
Having crossed the Eastern Europe, a group of singers and itinerant actors, Broder Zinger, settles in Jassy ( Rumania) in 1868 and forms the embryo of a troop. The meeting in 1876 with Avrom Goldfaden is going to be determining. The Yiddish theater is going then to obey two imperatives: to educate and to distract. Didactic stake, stemming from the movement of Lights, tries to dispute the "obscurantism" of the masses, embodied for the enlightened ( maskilim ) by the hassidism. From 1796, Aharon Wolfson-Halle will write Leichtsin und Fremmalia, but they are especially later authors, as S.ETTINGER (Serkele, on 1863), I.AKSENFELD (The Jewish Recruit, on 1861), Levinsohn (The Fair of grasps), A.B.GOTTLOBER ( The bridal Veil) and especially Mendele Mokher Seforim ( The Tithe), who will create on the funny and satiric mode of social denunciation the repertoire of the theater of this time. As for the details of entertainment, they will more directly be inspired by the tradition of the purimshpil, even though certain will have also moralizing aims. The founder of this kind is Avrom Goldfaden ( 1840-1908 ). Poet, actor, dramatist, composer, he wrote more than sixty details: farces, comedies, social satires, melodramas, operettas with biblical and contemporary subjects (Shmendrik, on 1877; The Fanatic, on 1880; Shulamis, on 1880; Bar-Kokhba, on 1887; The Witch, on 1887; Ben-Ami, inspired by Daniel Deronda de George Eliot).
With the last third of XIX-th century begins the big emigration of the Jews of central Europe and the East, following an outbreak of the anti-Semitism and the reproduction of pogroms. Begin then the big wandering of the Yiddish theater. This one spreads out then all over the world, according to the itinerant troops. Besides central Europe and besides the East, two centres get free. In Western Europe: England, with especially Whitechapel of London, passage and stopping place obliged by all the people of theater on the way towards America and Paris, the other moving plate of this migration, where Goldfaden establishes a troop and a dramatic school short-lived. But it is New York which becomes during these years the capital of the Yiddish theater. Actors and actresses reign then without division over Lower East Side, forming, as in the Middle Age, true families of acrobats. A popular theater, indifferent to aesthetic problems, is born. Rival troops settle down with their official authors: Rumenian Opera House with the "professor Hurwitz" who, during more than twenty years (from 1886 till 1910), wrote and went up a detail a week; or with Shomer ( 1849-1905 ), one of the most popular writers that one came from Russia and which adapted hundred novels and details; Oriental Theater, with Joseph Latteiner ( 1853-1935 ) who composed of it about eighty. Rotten jars of tearful melodramas and historic operettas, these details did not delay being denounced by the Yiddish intelligentsia which rebelled against this vulgarity ( shund ) and lauded the other forms of theater in the name of the Aufklärung's mission. This one was translated by the appearance of a much more ambitious theater, as in its repertoire as in its scenography.
The Yiddish theater and the modernity
The repertoire
In the United States, in the turn of the century, the most striking personality was that of Jacob Gordin ( 1853-1909 ). Upholder of Lights, follower of Tolstoi, self-taught, he dedicated the inexhaustible energy to the journalism and to the theater. By leaning on actors' pleiad, he gave an unprecedented development to the Yiddish scene of New York and Europe by the translation and the adaptation of uncountable plays of international repertoire (Shakespeare, Schiller, Hugo, Gogol, Gorki, Ibsen) And by the own production. In spite of the writing cowardly and bungled with its details(rooms), the optics naturalist incites him to endow his persons of the certain psychological truth and creates a tension which does not miss dramatic efficiency. Among his(its,her) about seventy works, it is necessary to quote Siberia ( 1891 ), The Jewish King Lear ( 1892 ), The Pogrom ( 1893 ), Mirele Efros ( 1898 ), The Captain Dreyfus ( 1898 ), Extermination ( 1899 ), God, man and devil (1900, inspired by Faust), Oath ( 1900 ), Khasyé, the orphan ( 1903 ), The wild Man ( 1905 )... Authors as Leon Kobrin, with the translations of Hamlet, Faust, and details(rooms) such as Yankl Boïtré, or the Young Farmer; Z.LIBIN with The eternal Jew, David and the Goliath or Judgment followed the example of Gordin in their attempt, often artless and awkward, to reform the Yiddish theater.
The classical authors(classics) had already tried to constitute a theatrical repertoire deserving of the rest of the Yiddish literature: Mendele Mokher Seforim ( 1836-1917 ) with The Tithe, Conscription; Cholem-Aleikhem ( 1859-1916 ) with details as Him Divorces (1887), Reunion ( 1887 ), Yaknehoz ( 1894 ), Mazel-Tov ( 1899 ), Treasury ( 1908 ) and especially with the adaptations of his stories or the novels made by the others or by himself, Pasternak, Stempeniu, Tevié the Milkman ( 1919 ), It is difficult to be Jewish (1920), I.L.PERETZ with The Golden chain, The Chained, At night on the old market, etc., sorts of dramatic poems in the mystic subjects which join certain experimental currents of the contemporary theater. These authors aroused followers: Chalom Asch, with God of anger ( 1907 ), Motke the Swindler; David Pinski, with The Family Tsvi, The Tragedy of the last Jew, Yankl the Smith ( 1906 ), Each his god ( 1912 ); Peretz Hirschbein, with the idylls rural as The Girls of the smith, The empty Inn, The lost corner(place), Green meadows; S.ANSKI with Dybbuk ( 1917 ); H.LEIVICK with details with realistic and political aim such as The poor Realm ( 1926 ), Bankruptcy ( 1927 ), Hirsh Leckert ( 1931 ), The Comedy of the sal ( 1934 ), or the dramatic poems with subjects messianic as Golem in 1921 and especially, after the genocide, Rotenberg's ( 1945 ) Maharam, Marriage to Fernwald ( 1949 ), To the days of Job ( 1953 ). Count the other Yiddish writers tried the need to express itself as dramatists. It was the case of Aaron Zeïtlin with about ten details, written between 1929 and 1939, which investigate on the tragic or funny mode the different collections of the safety and the redemption, all leading to the failure (Jacob Frank, Villejuive). In Soviet Union, most of the novelists and poets mirror in profit the development of the Yiddish theater to express itself by the scene (David Bergelson, Moïshe Kulbak, Peretz Markish, Shmuel Halkin, Lipe Reznik, Aaron Kushnirov, Dymov, Vaïter, M.DANIEL). In Poland, the most interesting rates were those of Yakev Preger (Temptation, Simkhé Plakhté), Alter Kacyzné (Duke, Sholem Schwartzbard), Leïb Malakh (Flood, the Mississipi).
It is not easy to make a general idea of the repertoire of the Yiddish theater. From the end of XIX-th century were created thousand details, melodramas and operettas, of which some were never deposited in writing. The literary repertoire is not simple to establish neither. If one sets as Ettinger's ( 1863 ) point of departure Serkele and if one likes it to details published and taken up in the interwar period, with their different variants, one ends in 1129 units, of very uneven value, without counting the adaptations of works in prose.
Theater of art and experimental troops
Whereas the commercial theater - melodramas and operettas - beats its full in New York, troops of young amateurs stemming from the labour movement, ambitious and elitist in their pursuit in a qualitative culture, transform theatrical art by emphasizing neither the actor, but the director and the cohesion of the set. The Circle worker bases in 1916 Folksbine ( popular Scene), which creates a studio and appeals to professional film directors as Buloff, David Herman, Leib Kadison... In 1925, under the aegis of the communist daily Fraihaït, gets organized the studio Artef, steered by Benno Shnayder, who adopts constructivist style and fashionable expressionist. He is encouraged in the 1930's with Federal Theater Project, set up with New Deal.
In the instigation of these troops of amateurs, the professional theaters of art were born in New York: in 1918, the Theater of art of Maurice Schwartz in Irving place Theatre, or Naïer Teater in Madison Square Garden Theater. The two troops adopted the principles of the European theater for the stylistic aspects and gave up the stardom for the benefit of a teamwork. The other experiments, often short-lived, were made in the same sense (the theater of Rudolph Schildkraut, the artistic Set, the New Yiddish dramatic Troop). The only theater of art which had a certain longevity was that of Maurice Schwartz which knew a quarter of century of activity about continuous before disappearing in 1953.
In oriental Europe, in spite of the suspension of the Yiddish theater promulgated by the tsarist government in 1882, one counts at the beginning of XX-th century about fifteen troops. Their traffic worldwide complete and their frequent splits allow the very fast distribution of new dramaturgic conceptions. Esther-Rokhl Kaminski bases, with the literary Troop ( 1908 ), one of the biggest dynasties of the Yiddish theater. In 1908, Peretz Hirshbein organizes in Odessa the Jewish artistic Theater which adopts a symbolist scenic approach, " a stylized theater ", which after a tour in the zone of place of residence is going to win the United States. The troop of Vilno, created in 1916, in tour notably with Anski's Dybbuk, is going to leave in New York one of her best actors, Buloff, who will contribute to implant there techniques expressionists who characterize her. Rooms open little everywhere - in Riga, in Odessa, in Lodz. In only Warsaw, dozens of theaters are born, among which the V.Y.K.T. (Varshever yiddisher kunst teater) of Turkow and the Young Theater of Weichert. The dramaturgic techniques which they develop are situated in the sphere of influence of European avant-gardes, and notably Stanislavski. In Rumania, cradle of the Yiddish theater, the poet Y.Sternberg is going to impulse a whole innovative movement. Operas of pocket (kleinkunst teater), puppet theatres appear also .
Soviet Union presents an unique event in the history of the Yiddish theater: during almost twenty years (from 1919 till 1948), this theater, in spite of multiple adversities and pursuits of which it was the object, benefited from state subsidies, that is from a stability which favored search and experiment.
Well before revolution, to Petersbourg, organizations, associations, Jewish literary companies multiply. In 1910, there is already a Jewish studio. With the sudden hatching of all the forms of cultural expression in Yiddish, the theater takes a greater importance. It is in this context that the Jewish theatrical society, to create its studio, is going to appeal to Granovski. Formed in the German theater by Max Reinhardt, the style is close to the expressionism, to the grotesque or to the synthetic theater. Unconscious particular of the Yiddish, he is going to surround himself with pupils and with actors stemming from the Jewish environment and once in Moscow, in 1920 , to join with A.EFROS who already steered there a Yiddish theatrical school. The Studio, result of this fusion, becomes so an official institution: the Jewish Theater of chamber of State ( G.O.S.E.K.T). Decorated by Marc Chagall, then in 1925 the Jewish Theater of State ( G.O.S.E.T). Which will continue the activities under the behaviour of Mikhoels and Susskin after Granovski's passage on the West (1928).
The only character of the Yiddish theater of Soviet Union is bound first of all to the dramaturgic conceptions of Granovski, resumed and developed by Mikhoels: attention in the physical techniques, in the movement, in the gesture, if need be almost mathematical constructions scénographiques. The influence of the painters who conceived the decorations of stage settings - Chagall, Altman, Rabinovitch, Falk - was also determining. Between 1920 and 1948, date Mikhoels's murder which will be followed with the progressive arrest of the main creators of Yiddish language and with their execution in 1952, the Yiddish theater of Moscow will go up, among others, Uriel Acosta, The eternal Jew, Cholem-Aleikhem's adaptations (The Agents, Mazel-Tov, First prize or 200 000, Menakhem-Mendl), The Aube of Vaïter, The God of C.Asch's vengeance, The Witch de Goldfaden, The Carnival of the Jewish masks, Three Small Jewish Grapes, Scapin's deceits, At Night on the I.L.Peretz , Purimspiel's old market, The H.Leivick's Golem, The Jacob's dream, The Tenth Command, The Journeys of Benjamin III, Mendélé Mokher Seforim, Deaf person of D.BERGELSON...
The Yiddish cinema, which had a very short-lived existence (hundred films about), appears as a by-product of the theater. He marries the cleavage of it: on one hand, "light comedies", operettas and melodramas, on the other hand, stock plays classical author, in Yiddish and in translation. The first, on the scene as in the screen, drew from the Jewish thematic and musical folklore. But it was missing that in the cinema direct contact among the actors and the public, who made the main thing of the success of this type of theater. These films marked nevertheless the American "musical".
A more ambitious cinema, following the example of the theater of art, also lives the day. Granovski realized, after the departure of Soviet Union, To live, or the Song ( 1932 ), The Adventures of the king Pausole ( 1936 ). A whole series of filmed details(rooms) or adaptations of novels were realized in the 1930's: Uncle Moses according to C.ASCH, on 1932; Der yidisher keniq Lear, Mirele Efros, Mentch, man Gordin's taïvl, on 1935; Mir kumen one, Aleksander Ford's documentary, on 1935; Yidl mitn fidl, on 1936; In the wood of Poland, according to J.OPATOSHU; P.Hirshbein's Grine Felder and especially Dybbuk according to Anski's detail, adapted by A.KACYZNÉ and realized by Michal Waszynski in 1938, who stays the leader - d works of the Yiddish cinema. In spite of the limits, this cinema had in the interwar period of a public potential of ten million spectators worldwide. With the genocide, Yiddish film production stops (in some exceptions near) as well in Europe as in the United States. Given the industrial character of the cinematographic art, the public Yiddish was henceforth too much restricted to attract investments.
Theatrical activities, following the example of the other cultural activities, continued in ghettos and even in camps, some being imposed by the Gestapo for the entertainment (as cafés with live theatre of the ghetto of Warsaw or Vilno). But especially they were understood by the Jewish population as one of the forms of resistance in the extermination itself. So, in the ghetto of Warsaw, one counts at the certain moments six professional theaters which play all evenings and twice Sunday, welcoming from 30 000 to 50 000 spectators a week. One draws from the classic repertoire, but one chooses rather details with national or historic character with messianic subjects or resistance. In the middle of the horror, new works arise, in Yiddish or in Hebrew, from often biblical or prophetic inspiration. Proses, poetries, but also dramae and tragedies (I.KATZENELSON) Will be read or risen almost at once, before being buried to be protected for the future generations.
From the end of Second World war, in 1946 , survivors regrouped in displaced persons' camps will try to stage their experiments or will resume the repertoire of front war. One estimates at about sixty the number of groups of amateurs which worked in these camps of grouping.
After the genocide, the theater constituted one of the modalities according to which the Jewish society tried to live again. But the theater, more than the other artistic forms, is a collective expression, it was so more bruised still than the rest of the Yiddish culture. In the United States, the Theater of art of Maurice Schwartz, the troops of amateurs, as Folksbine, and survivors immigrated after war delivered a battle lost beforehand. Within the framework of festivals, attempts are made to restore life in the Yiddish theater.
In Canada, in Argentina, in Australia, in South Africa, immigration according to war breathed a certain vitality into the Yiddish theater, but the troops could not be permanent, due to the lack of public and actors' scarcity. Situation was not more brilliant in Western Europe. There was well an attempt to relive the P.Y.A.T. (Parizer yiddisher arbeter teater) or the Y.K.U.T. (Yiddish kunst teater) with dramatists as Chaïm Slovès (The Defeat of Haman, Barukh of Amsterdam), but even there, after some representations, some tours, work had to break off. Brussels is the only city where a Yiddish theater, mixing(involving) amateurs and professionals, was able to continue to play with certain periodicity.
Only the Eastern Europe, with the system of state management of the culture, was capable of organizing Yiddish theaters. It was the case of Soviet Union until 1952, date in which was annihilated the Yiddish intelligentsia. Rumania, cradle of the Yiddish theater, establishes two troops, the one in Bucharest ( 1948 ), the other one in Jassy ( 1949 ). In Poland, with the return of some hundred thousand refugees of Soviet Union, theaters without future built up themselves in various cities. The only one remains this day, the Yiddish Theater of State in Warsaw, which was that of Ida Kaminska and Jonas Turkow.
It is Israel which knows the biggest theatrical activity in the Yiddish domain. The major part of the Yiddish repertoire was resumed with the Hebraic theater. But the Yiddish theater aroused there numerous troops of sound amateurs and the professional companies, in Tel Aviv notably. It is most of the time about small formings which favor the kind of the " klein-kunst " theater. The Yiddish theater knew certain renewal with the increase of the immigration native of countries of the Eastern Europe and especially Soviet Union from 1970, and due to the interest increased for the Yiddish which knows the country since then.