Gimpel the Fool
Michelle Palansky | CBC News | Posted: July 15, 2016 2:04 PM | Last Updated: July 15, 2016
THREE STARS | Howard Rypp brings this quintessential simpleton to life with disarming sweetness
Rating: ★★★
Company: Nephesh Theatre, Tel Aviv
Genre: Storytelling
Venue: 3 — The Playhouse Studio
This Isaac Bashevis Singer classic features a cheating wife with multiple lovers and an unspeakable act committed against baked goods. Oy vey! - Michelle Palansky
Gimpel the Fool plays it old school style, transporting Fringe audiences back to the Eastern European shtetl life of the 1800s. Racier than I remembered, this Isaac Bashevis Singer classic features a cheating wife with multiple lovers and an unspeakable act committed against baked goods. Oy vey!
In his one-man show, Howard Rypp brings this quintessential simpleton to life with disarming sweetness. Pre-recorded dialogue fills in for the rest of the town. The voice work itself is excellent but ghostly reverb audio effects evoke the 1990s more than the 1890s. And for the love of G-d, replace the wig and payos (sidelocks). Gimpel deserves better.
For those of us who prefer shorter shows the good news is that Gimpel the Fool runs 15 minutes tighter than advertised. The bad news? It still feels a little slow.