Told through a jumping timeline, we are introduced to the characters in present day Toronto, years after their friendship has dissipated, while traveling back to see how two buddies came to grow so far apart. The religious backgrounds of both play a vital role in their separation, slowly building a wall up between them.
Both Kayvon Kelly and Joel Bernbaum weave back and forth between the past and the present, swapping out their hats and yamakas to take on auxiliary characters such as distant fathers, racist border guards, radical relatives, and more. With creative (yet simple) staging and lighting, we are transported from pub to pub, into a Jewish synagogue, and even bear witness to an exchange of letters/emails eloquently depicted between the two characters. This 65 minute show has enough complexity in its subject matter to encourage dialogue (at times, a bit too forcefully) which is the mark of a thought-provoking button-pushing piece of work.
My Rabbi plays at the Firehall Arts Centre until October 18th.
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