Writer: Adaptation from Isaac Bashevis Singer

Director: David Zoob

Sound Design: Thyge Harrberg

Reviewer: Val Baskott

The Public Reviews Rating:

Sacred and Profane produce ensemble theatre adapted from literary or folk sources and are interested in the creative potential of using live music and digital sound.

They are flying high in choosing a complex Bashevis Singer story The Destruction of Kreshev. Bashevis Singer draws on the rich heritage of Central European Jewish life, using its tenets and folklore and plays one against the other with dream like imagery and grim undertones.

In Satan’s Playground, Satan wants to meddle, to destroy a village using love, or is it lust? It’s a slow burn tale of destruction that explores obsession, vengeance, retribution and expiation. Strong stuff.

David Zoob has taken a minimalist approach; this is a two – hander with a simple set of three hanging hooks and a few garments for the interiors, a bundle of grass for the countryside. Sound is the crucial third player in this piece; vocals, live clarinet and atmospheric electronics create ambience and cover character and scene shifts.

Lydia Baksh and David Hewson are skilled in donning their multi-character roles. Both articulate Satan, the narrator of the story, as two faces of an evil presence and emphasise the erotic undertones of the play. Baksh poignantly exposes the vulnerability of Lise, the doomed, obedient and virtuous daughter whose arranged marriage is at the heart of the tale. Hewson shows great versatility playing father, husband, and lover all with conviction. He plays mean klezmer too.

At times this piece falls between two stools, sometimes it is pure storytelling, other times exploratory drama, but it’s well crafted and good theatre for a cerebral audience.

Until 26th August