No matter your political inclinations, there’s no denying the pressing timeliness of Joshua Harmon’s epic household drama, “Prayer for the French Republic.” Operating by means of Could 11 at Skokie’s Northlight Theatre, the intricate, three-hour, multigenerational drama hurtles by on a razor’s edge between tragedy and comedy, rage and serenity, hope and despair.
Directed by Jeremy Wechsler (in a co-production between Northlight and Theater Wit) with an acute eye for the contextual scope of centuries of Jewish historical past, “Prayer” is centered on a French Jewish household whose roots in Paris date again centuries. Set in Paris, the scenes fluctuate between 1944-1946 and 2016-2017. (The title comes within the type of an historic prayer woven into the dialogue and recited with each reverence and energy.)
As “Prayer” strikes from the Nazi-occupied France of 1944 to the rise of the extreme-right Nationwide Entrance get together in 2016, the bigger image turns into clear: Harmon is displaying us how simply historical past will be erased, forgotten and repeated.
‘Prayer for the French Republic’
The drama unfolds in two timelines: In 1944 and 1946, we’re with Adolphe (Torrey Hanson) and Irma Salomon (Kathy Scambiatterra), patriarch and matriarch of a sprawling Jewish household that’s been in France for generations. Their household tree was as soon as a flourishing bower, however it’s been stripped. France is occupied by Nazis. The Salomons don’t know what’s change into of their youngsters, together with son Lucien (Alex Weisman) and grandson Pierre (Nathan Becker).
In 2016, we meet Adolphe and Irma’s descendants, Marcelle (Janet Ulrich Brooks) and her husband, Charles (Rom Barkhordar), who’re residing within the household’s Parisian residence with their youngsters, Daniel (Max Stewart) and Elodie (Rae Grey). Marcelle’s brother Patrick (Larry Grimm) is a frequent customer.
Additionally within the family: Molly (Maya Lou Hlava), a distant cousin from America whose openhearted questions on Jewish tradition, historical past and politics reveal somebody who’s naive to the purpose of ignorance however genuinely striving to study.
As 2016 strikes into 2017, the household grows more and more alarmed as antisemitism is on the rise. Daniel has been assaulted twice. The hate speech is getting louder and extra frequent.
In the end, Charles and Marcelle face the identical horrible dilemma that confronted Irma and Adolphe over 70 years earlier: They really feel more and more beneath risk in their very own nation. Ought to they uproot their lives and depart, or hope issues get higher and keep?
Charles is adamant, citing the tens of millions of Holocaust victims who didn’t get out after they nonetheless may, sure their citizenship would save them. The household is aware of full properly it didn’t: The Nazis killed roughly 11 million folks throughout World Warfare II — together with 6 million Jews. Charles is blunt: “It’s both the suitcase or the coffin,” he tells Marcelle.
Wechsler’s ensemble knocks the present out of the park, by no means extra so when the Salomons are in battle. This can be a gloriously loud, contentious household. They interrupt and discuss over each other, shout and slam doorways. But the ensemble makes it clear that amid all of the vitriol, this can be a household outlined by unconditional love.
Brooks and Grimm anchor the forged because the Salomon siblings. Brooks can convey worlds in a single phrase, and she or he’s in peak type right here. Marcelle is outstanding at excoriating her youngsters, however there’s by no means a query that she would do worse to anybody who tried to hurt them. As Marcelle’s brother Patrick, Grimm is implausible, whether or not he’s tone-deaf singing on the treasured household piano or screaming at his sister. Patrick is the narrative hyperlink between the 2 eras on stage, typically breaking the fourth wall and addressing the viewers straight. Grimm’s commanding presence is right for a job that calls for a fluid merger between narration and motion.
Grey’s Elodie can also be robust, significantly in a blistering, show-stopping monologue on Jewish historical past. Grey maintains breathless ferocity as Elodie faculties Molly on the Jewish diaspora, beginning with the eleventh century bloodbath of Jews in Rome, Spain, France and Germany, to the hate crimes Daniel suffers.
Joe Schermoly’s creative scenic design is right. The lights of the Eiffel Tower glitter above a set that encapsulates previous and the current: On one facet of the stage, the Salomons’ residence within the Nineteen Forties; on the opposite, the fashionable trappings of Charles and Marcelle’s residence. Within the center, a stunning piano that’s been an integral a part of the household historical past for generations.
“Prayer for the French Republic” affords no simple solutions. Ultimately, we hear a rousing rendition of “La Marseillaise,” France’s nationwide anthem. Not everyone’s singing. It’s a portrait of a household stuffed with satisfaction, resilience, pleasure and a grim resignation that the nation celebrated within the anthem is not protected for them.
