Yentl

Nominated for 15 major theatre awards winning five!

This acclaimed new adaptation, based on the original Yiddish short story by Isaac Bashevis Singer, has been heralded as “profound”, “mesmerising”, “bracing and transformative”.  Hailed as a bilingual modern masterpiece, Yentl invites audiences to celebrate Yiddish culture and the revival of its endangered language in this new and brilliantly current stage adaptation of Nobel Prize laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer’s iconic short story.

Set in a small 1870’s shtetl in Poland, Yentl is the journey of a young woman who defies the Jewish orthodox tradition that forbids females from studying religious scripture. When her father dies, Yentl emancipates herself by dressing in male guise, determined to live as a man to continue her studies. Religion, gender, sexual politics, and traditional Yiddish culture collide as Yentl finds her truth through faith and love.

Isaac Bashevis only wrote in Yiddish, and the exquisite balance of Yiddish (with surtitles) and English transports audiences into Yentl’s world where the challenge of being true to oneself is as relevant today as it was 150 years ago.

For more information visit https://www.yentlkadimah.com.au/

★★★★★ ”Yentl was flawless... from the moment I sat down until the extensive (and totally justified) standing ovation, I was enthralled.”  
Theatre Matters

★★★★★ “Australian theatre is so rarely this complex, or this moving.”
The Guardian

★★★★★ “This mesmerising adaptation is nothing short of magic.”
Arts Hub  

Co-writers: Gary Abrahams, Elise Esther Hearst, and Galit Klas  
Director: Gary Abrahams 
Set and design: Dann Barber 
Lighting design: by Rachel Burke 
Music and Sound design: Max Lyandvert

Cast: Amy Hack (Yentl), Nicholas Jaquinot (Avigdor), Genevieve Kingsford (Hodes), Evelyn Krape (The Figure)

Understudies: Kandice Joy, Anthony Sandler