Seth Rozin's two-man play, Two Jews Walk into a War
, is cleverly titled, signaling that it's a comedy while soft-pedaling serious aspects. But make no mistake, Rozin has written a thoughtful examination of faith and a yearning for tradition in a changing world.
Only two elderly Jews are left in a bombed-out synagogue in Afghanistan's capital of Kabul during the current war. Ishaq is religiously observant, Zeblyan more secular, and they have never liked each other, but now they're thrown together in shared isolation.
This is far more serious, but Two Jews Walk into a War recalls Neil Simon's The Odd Couple and, even more so, Simon's The Sunshine Boys about a vaudevillian team who hated each other. The form of Two Jews is, indeed, vaudeville, with a series of blackouts between short scenes.
Distrustful of each other, the two men have differing plans for the future of Afghan Jewry. One wants to repopulate by converting one woman who will then bear his children, while the other wants to build a magnificent new temple to attract Jews from other nations. Of course, both ideas are ridiculous, and the men eventually turn towards a slightly more practical idea. The synagogue's Torahs have been destroyed, and Ishaq, who knows the text from memory, decides to dictate word by word so Zeblyan can inscribe a new parchment scroll. As they go along, Zeblyan finds loopholes and contradictions in the sacred verses, and he argues his points like an old-time Talmudic scholar. Their disputations illustrate that a shared heritage can be more important than the details of commandments.
John Pietrowski, the artistic director of Playwrights Theater in Madison, NJ, is mesmerizing with a furrowed brow and tired eyes. Tom Teti is as convincing as if he grew up Jewish, capturing the disappointments and resentments that come after years of persecution by Islamic autocrats.
James Glossman directs superbly, unafraid of taking long pauses that are filled by the actors' expressive glances, grimaces and movements.
