A play based on the book by Avigdor Dagan

Adaptation: Uri Nitzan - Director: Shmulik Hadjes

About the play:

Four concentration camp inmates, chosen to serve as court jesters of the camp commander, survive due to their theatrical prowess.  “The Court Jesters” tells the story of Judge Cohen, Adam Wahn, the juggler, Max Himmelfarb, the astrologer, and Leo Rosenberg, the acrobat-dwarf.  The play is set during the Holocaust, but the drama travels back in time to pre-war Europe, and follows the survivors to Jerusalem, after the war.  Focusing on the relationship between the jesters, the play depicts their bond with acute sensitivity, and shadows the protagonists all the way from their joint experiences in the camp commander's court to their individual dream-like realities following liberation. The play finally culminates in a poignant reunion, years later on King David Street, just below Jerusalem's Jaffa Gate.  The characters’ instinctive passion to survive makes the play all the more relevant to contemporary Israeli dilemmas, as well as to the Jewish experience in the Diaspora today.

Psik Theater chose to produce this play because of its commitment to the goal of commemorating the Holocaust through art and education. As Israelis, as human beings, and as artists, we at Psik Theater cannot remain aloof to that barbaric chapter in the history of our people.  As the younger generation in Israel has increasingly come to view the Holocaust as a distant historical occurrence, we seek ways to create contemporary interpretations that will be viewed and experienced by Holocaust survivors, fourth generation Israelis, and audiences around the world.

Based on a novel by Avigdor Dagan, one of Israel’s pioneering artists, the play allows the stories of the court jesters to become a personal, existential experience for all audiences.  With "The Court Jesters", Psik Theater transforms a distant historical event into an abiding memory.

The play is subtitled for English speaking audiences.

Optional: a post-performance actor-audience discussion about the play’s development process, with Holocaust survivor Mrs. Miriam Yahav, who escorted the troupe to the Nazi camps in Poland, as part of its preparation for the play.