PLAYWRIGHT Lally Katz did not know a lot about the legend of the golem until she started researching a play based on the Jewish medieval mystical figure.
A Golem Story premieres at the Malthouse Theatre in Southbank on June 15, and although it is set in fear-ravaged Prague in the 16th century, it tackles modern ethical dilemmas.
In the play, an invisible emperor has decreed a purging of the ghetto and a rabbi works to fashion an avenging monster.
Katz has weaved humour, philosophy and fantasy into the play, which is directed by Michael Kantor with a cast that includes Brian Lipson, Dan Spielman, Greg Stone, Yael Stone and Michel Laloum. Mark Jones performs live music that includes Yiddish melodies, kabbalistic ritual and Hebrew prayer.
“The Malthouse commissioned it in 2009 and then I started researching and writing. The real adventure for me has been finding out about the golem,” Katz explains.
“My whole world became the golem mystery and where the characters came into my imagination. There are so many great golem stories and it’s my take on the legend.”
The acclaimed 16th-century scholar Rabbi Judah Loew, the Maharal of Prague (c1520-1609) was said to have created a golem out of clay to protect the city’s Jews.
Legend has it that the golem ran amok and threatened innocent lives, so Rabbi Loew rendered the golem lifeless.
Katz was in Europe earlier this year studying theatre as part of her Churchill Fellowship awarded in 2010, but her trip did not include a visit to Prague to research the golem.
“I was hoping that I would have time to go to Prague, although part of me felt that the reality would affect the play because I wrote it as a fairytale in a dream space,” she says.
While Katz has been busy this week attending rehearsals of A Golem Story to finetune the script with the cast, she has on eye on her next play, Neighbourhood Watch, which premieres at the Belvoir Theatre in Sydney on July 23.
Neighbourhood Watch stars acclaimed actor Robyn Nevin, and Katz wrote it especially for her.
It’s a comedy set around the unlikely friendship between two odd-couple neighbours -– an elderly, battle-hardened Hungarian woman (played by Nevin) and a twenty-something waiting for a better world (played by Megan Holloway).
Katz explains: “I met Robyn at a party in her honour at the Sydney Theatre Company in 2007 and she said: ‘Why don’t you write me a play?’
“I said: ‘What should the character be?’ and she replied: ‘Tough and funny’.
“For the next three months I was on the lookout for a suitable character for Robyn. One day I went out into my street in my pyjamas and I got called over by a neighbour, an older woman, who is quite eccentric.
“After a few minutes of talking to her I thought, ‘tough and funny, this is her’ and so I spent the next three years off and on with this woman, learning how she talked and listening to her stories.
“I had not see Robyn for about two years, and left a note for her asking if we could meet and talk about the play. She liked it, which was a great thrill.”
By this time Belvoir Theatre Company had already commissioned the play and Nevin agreed to star in it.
Katz also has a play being staged by the Melbourne Theatre Company (MTC) in November at the Victorian Arts Centre called Return to Earth. The comedy stars Julie Forsyth and Kim Gyngell.
“Its exciting to have three big plays in the one year. Sometimes I have no plays or just one production when I’m doing a lot of development,” says Katz, who has written more than 20 plays.
Katz was born in Trenton, New Jersey in 1978 and her family moved to Canberra when she was a teenager for her father’s work.
While her father is Jewish, descended from Russian Jews who fled the pogroms around the turn of the 20th century, her mother is not Jewish.
“My Jewish heritage is strong and I have started learning more about Judaism in recent years,” she says.
“My grandparents are thrilled that I’m working on a play with a Jewish theme.”
Katz moved to Melbourne when she was 18 to study at Melbourne University and the Victorian College of the Arts.
“Since I was 16 the theatre became my world. At university I started putting on plays in pubs and on campus and then started getting commissions.”
Among Katz’s plays that have been staged in recent years are Goodbye Vaudeville Charlie Mudd and The Black Swan of Trespass with Stuck Pigs Squealing, Criminology at Malthouse Theatre, The Apocalypse Bear Trilogy at MTC, The Mysteries and Waikiki Hip at Sydney Theatre Company.
Katz was honoured with the New York International Fringe Festival Producer’s Choice Award and the Victorian Premier’s Literary Award 2009.
In 2009 Katz travelled to the United Kingdom under the British Council’s Realise Your Dream awards for emerging Australian artists, which offered financial and professional support in the arts world.
Her 2010 Churchill Fellowship was to study new playwriting techniques in the United States and Britain.
“I learnt so much about playwriting and the theatre,” she says of the three-month trip. “You bring back all the knowledge that you gain to the industry back in Australia. Now I feel that I can mentor young writers here and share what I have learnt.”
A Golem Story is being staged at the CUB Malthouse, 113 Sturt Street, Southbank, from June 10 to July 2. Enquiries: www.malthousetheatre.com.au.
Neighbourhood Watch is at Belvoir Theatre, 25 Belvoir St, Surry Hills, from July 23 to August 28. Enquiries: www.belvoir.com.au.
The MTC’s Return to Earth is at the Fairfax, Victorian Arts Centre, from November 4 to December 17. Enquiries: www.mtc.com.au.
REPORT: Danny Gocs
PHOTO: Playwright Lally Katz discusses A Golem Story with actor Brian Lipson (left) and director Michael Kantor during rehearsals at Malthouse Theatre.
