Beersheba stages 'Monte Cristo'

Amir Kriaf plays Edmond Dantes, the mysterious and magnetic Count of Monte Cristo who dazzles Paris with his charm and wealth.

By HELEN KAYE
Theater Review 88 (photo credit: )
Theater Review 88
(photo credit: )
Ido Ricklin has adapted and is directing Alexandre Dumas's The Count of Monte Cristo for the Beersheba Theater. Amir Kriaf plays Edmond Dantes, the mysterious and magnetic Count of Monte Cristo who dazzles Paris with his charm and wealth. In reality he is - gasp! - a sailor unjustly imprisoned for treason against Napoleon's regime; he escapes from the infamous Chateau d'If seeking vengeance and justice. Alon Ofir plays both his mentor, the Abbé Faria, and his enemy, the villainous prosecutor de Villefort. In fact, the cast of 10 plays approximately 30 different characters. Second in popularity only to The Three Musketeers, Dumas published his swashbuckler in 1844. There have been many stage versions of Monte Cristo; the latest film version was in 2002, but this is the first Hebrew-language version, and it was especially commissioned by the Beersheba Theater. It opens August 12 in Beersheba.