"It's a rule of thumb that accomplished novelists rarely make successful playwrights -- the dishonor roll includes Fitzgerald, Hemingway, Faulkner, Bellow, Heller, and William F. Buckley -- which makes it all the more remarkable that Epstein has distilled his book, with its crowded cast and large-scale sequences, into a taut two-act drama. If the stage version of King of the Jews isn't as rich an experience, it is tense and suspenseful, moving ruthlessly toward its dismaying finale while vigorously wrestling with an unresolvable dilemma forced on the characters by history."
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"As an ensemble piece, carefully directed by Alexandra Aron to highlight the nuances, King of the Jews works extremely well in examining the moral ambiguity of those caught in a trap from which there can be no escape. "
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How does a Holocaust-themed play land with such emotional impact as Leslie Epstein’s "King of the Jews" at the HERE Theatre? Based on his novel of the same name, "King of the Jews" is a searing, eye-opening glimpse of a dark period in world history. Set in the formerly elegant Astoria Café in 1939 and 1941 Poland, "King of the Jews" turns the employees and customers into a microcosm of Jewish society, a community being crushed under the boots of the invading Nazis. These trapped Jews emerge as real people. As the eleven p.m. curfew, enforced by Gestapo goons, approaches, they each react in their own way.
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a Holocaust-set play at HERE that is inventively staged and well-acted, but both intentionally and unintentionally disturbing… When its characters explore their moral dilemma, “King of the Jews” is at its most nuanced and most engaging… [but the debate is] overshadowed by some superficial character portraits.
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Leslie Epstein’s 1979 novel was adapted by him in 2007 for the stage. His compelling scenario is based on historical facts; with their vaunted preoccupation with efficiency, the Germans instigated Jewish self-governing ghetto councils. This searing production dramatizes European Jewish collaboration with the Germans during the Holocaust, this immersive presentation is set in a bustling Polish café with the audience seated at cabaret-style tables and chairs.
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Director Alexandra Aron’s immersive staging is powerful and hard-hitting, but, alas, the narrative, despite a strong start, can’t quite live up to its promise.
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“ ‘King of the Jews’ focuses on people trapped into making impossible decisions and the difficulty in ordinary people judging those living through extraordinary experiences. Aron, the technicians, and the cast have so artfully embodied Epstein’s treatment of complex issues that it’s clear that such judgments are both infeasible and unfair.”
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