Second Wind in Review

The South African accents might stray, but our attention doesn't

By Chloe Veltman, SF Weekly

In the middle of the desolate South African karroo wilderness, the widowed Miss Helen tirelessly builds her "Mecca." Far from being a hallowed destination for international pilgrimages, the old lady's version of the holy city -- a fantastical construction of concrete owls and mermaids, candles, glitter, fragments of mirror, and beer bottles -- keeps most people away. Second Wind's staging of Athol Fugard's profound and touching play about one woman's drive toward self-expression and independence in a hostile, God-fearing desert community transforms the dreary, low-ceilinged Phoenix Theatre into an oasis of color and light. The gentle warmth of Linda Ayres-Frederick's performance as Helen keeps the sadness and anger of her character bubbling just below the surface. In contrast, Andi C. Trindle Walker, as the young, idealistic schoolteacher Elsa, who drives 800 miles across the karroo from Cape Town to see Helen, is all forthright hotheadedness above and softness below. Evren Odcikin's careful direction draws out the differences between these two main characters, while Fred Sharkey's snug, ramshackle set, with its tatty furnishings and bright, homemade decorations, creates a nestlike sense of community. The South African accents might stray now and again (Dennis McIntyre, as local pastor Marius, sounds more like someone you'd hear around the real Mecca than an Afrikaner), but our attention doesn't.

Critical Acclaim for Murder

Israeli playwright questions the successes of armed conflict when loss and revenge have become a way of life in 'Murder'

Hanoch Levin was one of Israel's most gifted -- and controversial -- playwrights. Throughout his career, Levin angered the highest levels of Israeli society with work that satirized the motives of government officials (as in "The Queen of the Bathtub," which criticized then-Prime Minister Golda Meir), depicted some Israelis as ruthless and violent (as in "The Patriot," which was banned by Israeli censors) and questioned the apparent successes of armed conflict (as in "You, Me and the Next War," his 1968 play that said the territorial gains of 1967, when Israel captured the West Bank, Gaza and East Jerusalem, would essentially backfire). "Murder," a Levin play from 1997 that's being staged at the Phoenix Theatre in San Francisco, offended some Israelis when it was first performed because it shows soldiers and civilians having abused and killed Palestinians. "Murder," though, points a finger at both Palestinians and Israelis, saying they're enveloped in an endless cycle of violence that's destroying their very souls. "Murder" doesn't sanitize much. It's a raw window into a conflict that seems bleaker with every passing year.

For some people, "Murder" will be especially disturbing for the way it incorporates sexual violence and voyeurism into the fray. "Murder" is divided into three main scenes that span a 10-year period. In the first scene, three young Israeli soldiers (one a woman) stand over the body of a young Palestinian boy whose face is covered with a cloth. Eventually, the boy's father, wearing a white and black kaffiyeh around his head, wanders in and confronts the fresh-faced soldiers who murdered -- and mutilated -- his son. Which of the three military figures gouged out his child's eye? Which one stabbed the boy in the back? And which one took a knife to his child's private parts?

"We came to make a search; he resisted," the woman solider (played by Andi C. Trindle Walker), tells the grieving father. "He fell. In the end, he died. ... In the reality of battle, things happen."

"He was just a boy!" the dad (Bruce Moody) replies to one of the male soldiers, who looks to be in his early 20s. "You're only a boy, too!"

In the second scene, which takes place five years later, the still- grieving Palestinian father takes his revenge at an Israeli wedding party. Seeing the groom, he accuses him of being one of the soldiers who killed his son. The newlywed had nothing to do with the death, but the father -- apparently too distraught to know or care -- shoots him dead, then violates the bride.

In the final scene (which takes place five years later), the family of the dead newlyweds spot a Palestinian man whom they believe to be the murderer. Like the Israeli groom, this man had nothing to do with the previous death, but that doesn't matter to the enraged Israeli mob, which takes savage delight in killing him. An epilogue brings a bit of resolution to events, but "Murder" raises many more questions than it answers. It was written before the second intifada and the most recent wave of violence in the Holy Land, but there are obvious parallels to today's headlines -- connections that the Phoenix Theatre and director Ian Walker are trying to push. For example, as the play opens, one of the soldiers is watching TV news, which is covering war in Iraq, Marines in combat and other dramas around the world. This ripped-from-the- headlines approach gives more immediacy to "Murder." It also implies that much of the violence and despair we witness onstage will happen in the future.

There are no specific dates or years in the play. It's even hard to spot a specific reference to "Israel" or "Palestine" in "Murder," which may be one of Levin's (and Walker's) points: The cycle of violence we see could happen to any group that gives in to a desire for blood and revenge. In this vein, it doesn't matter that the actors in this production of "Murder" all speak with what can be termed American accents. Nor should it matter that the actors portraying the Palestinian father and his son don't look Palestinian at all. (In fact, the actor who portrays the boy is a young woman named Leah Kaplan.)

For some audience members, however, this universalism will be bothersome. When the play was first performed in Israel, Arab actors portrayed the parts of Palestinians. Palestinians will also quarrel with the way "Murder" has the grieving Palestinian father shooting the groom and raping the bride. (The rape is implied -- not staged -- in the Phoenix Theatre's production.) Why did Levin resort to this kind of deplorable act to signify Palestinian rage? It seems wildly unfair, but Levin -- who refused to give interviews in the two decades before his death in 1999 -- had a habit of offending people. In criticizing Meir and her ministers with "The Queen of the Bathtub," Levin featured such characters as "Lord Keeper of the Enema." When that play was staged in Tel Aviv in 1970, demonstrators protested every night. The Israeli government eventually forced the theater to pull the "The Queen of the Bathtub" after 18 performances. When "Murder" was first staged in Israel, the theater brought in security guards to ensure there was no trouble from spectators.

This is the background in which to understand the Bay Area premiere of "Murder." Second Wind Productions, which specializes in theater that "approaches contemporary social and political issues from the perspective of the human story," is presenting the play. "Murder" goes by quickly, which is too bad. It condenses the mayhem of a decade-long period into one hour -- not nearly enough time to capture all the characters' complexities. The violence, then, becomes mere titillation without more context. Second Wind Productions is trying to help with four postshow discussions: On Friday, director Walker will answer questions; on July 30, a member of the group Jewish Voice for Peace will talk; on Aug. 1, a member of the group International A.N.S.W.E.R. (Act Now to Stop War and End Racism) will speak; and on Aug. 6, a cultural attache from the Israeli Consulate will lead a discussion.

At the very least, "Murder" will add to the greater debate about Israel and the Palestinian territories. Like any piece of art, its message is open to interpretation. Like any piece of old art about a newsworthy conflict, its details can seem stale in the light of current developments. And like any piece of art initially created for one country's consumption, its nuances may not translate into the laps of another country's audience. Walker and Second Wind Productions have given Levin and "Murder" the benefit of the doubt.

E-mail Jonathan Curiel at jcuriel@sfchronicle.com.

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