Yentl description
Yentl explores one woman's fight to educate herself in a strict, male-led society.
Yentl at Marylebone Theatre is a bilingual adaptation of Isaac Bashevis Singer's beloved story exploring gender roles, education, and self-discovery in early 1900s Eastern Europe. The drama is set in a 1870s Polish shtetl, a small town where Ashkenazi Jewish people traditionally lived.
You'll meet Yentl Mendel, a young Ashkenazi Jewish woman who has a driving passion for studying the Talmud, a sacred text that only men are allowed to read. When her father dies, Yentl is determined to study at a Yeshiva, a religious school. So she disguises herself as a man, Anshel, and follows her passion. She makes friends with fellow student Avigdor and gets tangled up in a complex love triangle with him and his fiancée, Hadass. As Yentl's dual identity unfolds, she faces her society's restrictions and handles personal dilemmas in a poignant exploration of love, sacrifice, identity, and the quest for knowledge.
The 1983 movie of the same name was directed by Barbra Streisand, critically acclaimed for its music, direction, and acting. It won the Academy Award for Best Original Song Score and the Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture—Musical or Comedy, making Streisand the first woman to win the Golden Globe for Best Director.
For this stage production, the cast includes Amy Hack as Yentl, Genevieve Kingsford as Hodes, and Evelyn Krape as The Figure, with Kandice Joy as the understudy for the roles of Yentl and Hodes. The creative team is made up of director and co-writer Gary Abrahams, co-writers Galit Klas and Elise Hearst, set and costume designer Dann Barber, lighting designer Rachel Burke, and original composition and sound designer Max Lyandvert. The Yiddish translation has been created by Professor Rivke Margolis.
Buy Yentl tickets to experience a powerful commentary on the constraints women faced in pursuit of the education and self-identity that men once took for granted.
