Direction and Stage Production – Adina Tal
Eleven deaf-blind actors take the audience on a magical tour in the districts of their inner world; the world of darkness, silence and…bread. As the process of bread making unfolds on stage – the dough is being kneaded, raised and baked “for real” – a unique encounter occurs between actors and audience. Together they re-enact vivid or distant memories, recall forgotten dreams and joyful moments and ‘touch’ the spark of Creation present in every one of us.
The actors take the spectators into those magical moments between reality and fantasy, between grandeur and ridicule, and always eventually return to the basic meaning of bread as a symbol of our longing for a home.
The path to the show
The show “Not by Bread Alone” is the second production of the “Nalaga’at” Theater Deaf-blind Acting Ensemble. The rehearsals for the show have lasted two years. For many months we studied the process of bread-making and worked at adapting the length of the play to the exact duration of the whole bread-making process, thus, seeking to create a time unit common to the actors and the spectators. Bread is much more than the sum of its ingredients. While learning the bread-making process, little moments of sheer happiness, memories, experiences, and dreams unveiled. All along, we looked for new methods of communication, as a group and as an ensemble of actors. Sessions of total darkness and silence were arranged for the touch-sign language interpreters during the drama workshops, in order to help them better understand the actors’ daily life.
In the course of the show the beat of a drum is occasionally heard on stage. This cue announces the start of a new scene. The actors on stage can neither see the hand hitting the drum nor hear the beat, however, they can feel its vibration. This capacity is the result of a long and complicated process during which the actors have learnt to feel the vibration of the beat as it travels in the air. This is an example of a new method of communication we have developed combining this group’s unique personal and somewhat dramatic situation with the drama presented on stage.
Set Design: Eithan Ronel
Set Construction: Meir Ben-Hakon, Alon Levi
Costume Design: Dafna Grossman
Props: Liron Koren
Lighting Design: Ori Robinstien
Original Music: Amnon Baaham
’Dancing Closely” Lyrics, Music, and Sung by: Zvi Tal
“Italian Market” based on a Naples folk song: Zvi Tal