Theater Review: <I>His Reputation Precedes Him </I>

A gleeful satirical farce, Kishon's Reputation skewers the way we ran the country in the 1950s.

By HELEN KAYE
Theater Review 88 (photo credit: )
Theater Review 88
(photo credit: )
His Reputation Precedes Him By Ephraim Kishon, Directed by Moshe Naor September 21 The more things change the more they stay the same. A gleeful satirical farce, Kishon's Reputation skewers the way we ran the country in the 1950s: the little "notes" that got people cushy jobs, the rudeness, the bureaucracy, the ineptitude, the corruption. These days, perhaps it is by e-mail or SMS, and the corruption may be more ambitious, but basically we still run the country the same way - don't we? Audiences in 1953 were unused to criticism of the fledgling state, but they laughed - and oh, how they identified. Revivals over the years were guaranteed hits, and the crowd-seducing current incarnation still has them in the aisles. Eager new immigrant Zvi Frochkin (Shlomo Bar-Abba) really needs a job. A note from the important-sounding nobody Itamar Levanon (Shlomo Vishinsky) gets Zvi appointed manager of the pipe department in a government office, never mind that he knows zilch about pipes. That he survives for as long as he does is thanks to tea-lady Tziona (Tikki Dayan), whose advice keeps him and the shenanigans going. A demurely cheeky parody, Lily Ben-Nahshon's set deserves a cheer, as do props ladies Sarah Cohen and Anat Zamir, costume designer Ofra Confino and music arranger Yossi Ben-Nun. The cast is truly excellent, in particular Avi Uriah as uber-bureaucrat Dr. Toren and Odelia Moreh Matalon as Shoshana the secretary. In short, Moshe Naor's direction is slick, the acting is slick, the whole production is as slick and pristine as new paint. From the beginning, it keeps its eye on the audience rather than on character and text, and that is a pity. Image and surface pall after a while, no matter how glossy.