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And the Rat Laughed [צחוק של עכברוש]
Author(s): Nava Semel
An opera based on Nava Semel's novel And the Rat Laughed, composed by Ella Milch-Sheriff. When a child asks her grandmother about her childhood for a school paper, the grandmother tells her story for the first time. She was born in Poland, and was given by her parents to a peasant family so that they would keep her safe. The peasant family takes away her name and identity, forcing her to become Christian. They starve her, and the family's young boy rapes her. Her only companion is a rat she calls "Stash". After a year, she's given to the catholic priest to be killed as revenge for Jesus’ crucifixion. But the priest hides her in his church and helps her rebuild her crushed body and soul. In the year 2099, two researchers are studying the myth of a "girl and rat" who survived the Holocaust.
Format: Opera
Snapshot
Notes:
See also Nava Semel’s website.
Original or Prominent Production: World premiere, April 2005, produced by the Israeli Chamber Orchestra and the Cameri Theatre of Tel Aviv.
Original Source Material: Based on the novel And the Rat Laughed by Nava Semel, published in 2001.Nationality of Author: Israeli
Original Language: Hebrew
Publisher:
Experience(s) Chronicled: Allegoric or Metaphoric Representations | Survivors and Subsequent Generations | Righteous Gentiles