By JERUSALEM POST STAFFGoldstar’s Beer Festival in Haifa(photo credit: LIOR GOLSAD)1. GREAT PERFORMANCEGlenn Close stars as Joan in the acclaimed film The Wife that opens countrywide this week. Joan and Joe (Jonathan Pryce) remain complements after nearly 40 years of marriage. Where Joe is casual, Joan is elegant. Where Joe is vain, Joan is self-effacing. And where Joe enjoys his very public role as the great American novelist, Joan pours her considerable intellect, grace, charm and diplomacy into the private role of a great man’s wife. As Joe is about to be awarded the Nobel Prize for his acclaimed and prolific body of work, Joan starts to think about the shared compromises, secrets and betrayals. With Christian Slater and Max Irons.2. ‘NABUCCO’ AT THE PARKThe Israeli Opera returns to the Hayarkon Park Ganei Yehoshua this Thursday, presenting a new production of Nabucco by Giuseppe Verdi. Verdi’s “Jewish” opera showcases King Nebuchadnezzar who destroys the Temple in Jerusalem and exiles the Israelites to Babylon, where they sing the immortal slave chorus. Verdi’s true first operatic success, created especially for the park. Hosting the event again this year will be Mayor Ron Huldai. Admission free.August 9. Gates open at 7 p.m., show starts at 8:30 p.m.3. A SENSE OF ONESELFThe Nova Galega De Danza dance troupe arrives in Israel to perform their work SON as part of the Danza Espania festival at Suzanne Dellal center. In this groundbreaking performance, a troupe of male dancers performs a hybrid of choreographic languages, including traditional Galician dance, stylized Spanish dance, contemporary dance and flamenco. In this sensual and riveting work, they blend the old with the new, the masculine with the feminine, and folk dance with the contemporary.August 6 at 9 p.m. and August 7 at 7 p.m. at Suzanne Dellal Center, Tel Aviv.4. SHAKESPEARE ON THE GOSome of the most quoted lines in the English language are in Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Join Theater in the Rough for a modern and engaging exploration of this classic play In English. Hamlet: In Motion is on the move in the park, featuring 10 actors, Anglo and Israeli, from the Jerusalem area and beyond. Follow an action-packed story of family matters, love and revenge. Listen as Hamlet grapples with his fate and humanity.August 8, 9, 12, 13, 15, 16, 26, 27, 28 at 5:30 p.m. at the Bloomfield Gardens (behind the King David Hotel), Jerusalem. Suggested donation: NIS 35. Photo by Yitz Woolf, Jerusalem Photography5. MALE FLAMENCOSiroco is the dry, warm windstorm that sweeps from North Africa toward the center of the Mediterranean, reaching hurricane speeds. The show Siroco, presented by Emilio Ochando Y Compania (Spain), is dedicated to this ebb and flow of wind, change and movement, pushing the limit of traditional dance and challenging labels and stereotypes. The work by renowned choreographer Emilio Ochando, features four male dancers dressed in traditional women’s flamenco garb. Four pure flamenco elements are present: the shawl, the fan, long-tailed dress, and castanets. In all climates, these key elements come to life through the changing temperament of the wind. Along with three world-class musicians, they bring us on a journey through their own desert wind.August 10 at 10 p.m. and August 11 at 9 p.m. at the Suzanne Dellal Center, Tel Aviv6. TO BE A REFUGEEIsraeli American artist and Holocaust survivor Tamar Hirschl presents her new solo exhibition in Israel. Titled “Between Waves and Borders,” and focusing on the issue of refugees, which colored the artist’s early childhood, Hirschl shows a collection of works transmitting social, political and philosophical messages. Maps are the main feature, merged with paintings of sinking boats and helpless refugees. Together they express tension, discomfort, movement, disbanding and assembly, rift and linkage. Often they are combined by stitches that demonstrate the pain and difficulty in unification, and how life eventuates within the framework of marked boundaries. Curator: Arie Berkowitz.Beit Haomanim, 9 Alharizi Street, Tel Aviv. Closing August 25. Gallery talk August 11 at 12.7. ‘ROMEO AND JULIET’Virtuoso pianist Ran Zemach will perform Prokofiev’s Romeo and Juliet.In a series of recitals celebrating 80 years of the premier of the iconic piece, Zemach will perform the piano adaptation of the music written by Prokofiev himself. Also in the program are Ballade no. 4, Scherzo no. 2 and Polonaise by Chopin and more.August 9 at 8 p.m. at the Rappaport Auditorium Haifa; August 14 at 8 p.m. at the Mishkenot Sha’ananim Music Center, Jerusalem, and August 18 at 9 p.m. at Tel Aviv Museum of Art; Tickets at Bravo *32218. SACRED FESTIVALThis year’s Mekudeshet Festival in Jerusalem redefines sacredness, expanding common ground, openness, shared society, pluralism and creativity through the transformative power of the arts. The program, comprised of original, city-specific productions, includes a repeat of the Kulna event, a seminal performance that will be staged on the seam line between East and West. The Jerusalem Orchestra East and West together with solo singers, including Israeli diva Sarit Hadad (pictured), will present sounds of the Middle East at the closing concert. Elsewhere in the festival, the audience will have a chance to look from the city’s rooftops; experience a blindfolded, open-air musical experiment; artistic journeys to Jerusalem’s most thought-provoking places and much more.August 8 to 28, Jerusalem. For details go to en.mekudeshet.com/9. BEER AND MUSICGoldstar’s Beer Festival returns to Ethos in Haifa, bringing music and beer to the youth of Israel for the 26th time. More than 60,000 people are expected to enjoy live performances of Israel’s best young musicians as well as beer garden, food stalls and other activities. August 15 to 16; entry free.10. TAKE A SELFIEThe G compound at Cinema City in Rishon Lezion offers a chance to “visit” and take selfies at all of the world’s most popular touristic sights without going through customs. In a 3D exhibition at the compound, there will be large-size photos of Eiffel Tower, the Pyramids, Niagara Falls, the Coliseum, Red Square and more. There will also be many attractions for kids. Entry free. Until August 15.
