Gotta say, I was skeptical of a play that included only subtitles and a foreign language, but the Israelis know how to get the job done- and do it well! The play, named “Returning,” performed at the Cameri Theater in Tel Aviv, was extremely interesting and engaging, and the language barrier became almost nonexistent. It began with a creepy undertone; the projection of a man’s face assuming the entirety of the stage. Within a police station, the main character, Noa, a woman about 30, sits silently as she is righteously questioned about her living situation. The police explain that social services has taken all five of her children, and she will not be able to return to her current home because of police suspicion of neglect and incest within the household. Luckily, all but one of her children are given back to her and she return to her parents house, unwillingly.
Through a series of flashbacks, it becomes clear that an old man seduced her into following the “righteous path,” in the process abandoning her projected future. Back to the present, as she begins to form long lost relationships with her family, she loosens up on tight restrictions she previously held on both herself and her children, emphasizing the difficultly of the 16 years spent with “father.” However, tensions arise when it becomes clear that although her mother and sister have always welcomed her back home, despite her gruesome past, her father was not as accepting. In overcoming these difficulties, the story ends up at the police station, where Noa now fears for her 16 year old daughter, who claims that she saw “father” the last night asking her to meet him.
In overcoming commonalities of respect and spiritual goodness “father” taught her, she agrees to help lock him away for ever with use of a recording device. In saving her daughter, and sanctifying herself, she is able to feel a sense of freedom that she has not had in many years (highlighted by the ceremony of renaming her children). However, the most moving part of the play by far would have to be the end. After the bowing for the cast, all dressed in white at this point, a woman wearing regular colorful clothes walks on. In Hebrew, it is explained that this is a true story, and the woman standing before us is the mother the story depicts. All in all, it became extremely clear that a language barrier is nonexistent when the story being told is as captivating as this was; truly a unique experience!