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September 6, 2002
Eve meets the mistress
Play puts historical characters in a modern world.
ÖMER SAGLAN SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH BULLETIN
The play Eve and Lilith, winner of a 2001 Culturaward in
Germany, is one of several international plays that will be featured
at this year's Fringe Festival in Vancouver. The play is based on
the archetypes of Eve and Lilith and each of their relationships
with Adam.
"We try to transport it into modern times and to show that
every woman has aspects of Lilith and Eve," said Katharina
Riemann, the actor who portrays Lilith.
Most people know of Eve, the second wife of Adam. She is described
as dutiful and domestic. But who is Lilith?
A subject of much controversy, Lilith has many interpretations.
She first arises in Babylonian demonology as one of several harmful
spirits. As Ardat-Lilith, she preys on males, while other demons
imperil women in childbirth and their children.
This picture of Lilith also recurs in some midrashic literature.
According to Midrash Ba-Midbar Rabbah, "When Lilith finds no
children born, she turns on her own." In another midrashic
resource, Lilith is named as Piznai, a spirit who sleeps with Adam
after he has been separated from Eve. The result of this union are
male and female demons.
In the Midrash Alphabet of Ben Sira, Lilith is identified as Adam's
first wife, "created from the earth at the same time as Adam."
Lilith was expelled by Adam because she opposed suppression and
demanded equal rights, a move that might have marked her as the
world's first feminist.
Considering Eve and Lilith's different characters, it is not surprising
that, in the play, Lilith represents the mistress and Eve, the wife
of Adam.
The three-scene play attempts to show the confrontation between
the two female personalities, using humor, as well as serious dialogue.
In one scene, Lilith emphasizes her independence from men. She says
that she "would rather suffer in the moon's stillness, than
to bow to a man's will." Eve answers: "I am his wife and
have pledged to him. He says I was born to him from his rib. So
I stand behind him."
According to the performers, the play is easy to relate to because
it can be applied to modern day life.
Heidrun Ohnesorge, who plays the role of Eve, explained that women
like the play because they are interested in how different characters
could come together.
"The women [in the audience] are touched by seeing both sides
of [Eve and Lilith]," Ohnesorge said. "They can see that
[a woman] can change herself to change the situation of her life."
"The message of this play is to show that we actually play
more then one role during the day," added Riemann.
Eve and Lilith was written by Johannes Galli, a German author
and philosopher, who also has experience performing as a clown.
He is the founder of the Galli Method, a training program designed
for actors or business managers that encourages them to use communication
clearly and powerfully from the heart to transform their lives.
It consists of techniques that include body language awareness training.
Galli also used his experiences in North America and China to develop
a new source of business training that he calls Intercultural Training
Courses for Communication and Body Language.
The international Galli group Creativity Unlimited operates theatres
and offices throughout Germany, Mexico, the United States and China.
This summer, they opened a studio in Vancouver to teach the Galli
Method.
Galli wrote Eve and Lilith after being commissioned by Allianz,
a large German insurance company who wanted to increase the dialogue
between Jews and Germans. The play has already run more than 100
times in Germany and several times in Toronto.
Eve and Lilith can be seen at the Fringe Festival Sept. 7
to 15, at the Waterfront Theatre. The performance times are Sept.
7, 3:30 p.m.; Sept. 8, 8:30 p.m.: Sept. 9, 3:15 p.m.; Sept. 12,
11:15 p.m.; Sept. 14, 7:30 p.m.; and Sept. 15, 6:15 p.m. For more
information, contact the Galli Academy in Vancouver at 604-648-2140
or go online to www.galli-group.com.
For more information on Fringe shows or ticket prices, call 604-257-0366.
Ömer Saglan is completing an internship with the Jewish
Bulletin.
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