A Message from Arnold Mittelman After a career in not-for-profit and commercial theater spanning more than 40 years I was honored in 2007 to found the National Jewish Theater / Foundation and in 2010 to assume leadership of its Holocaust Theater International...
Putting an End to the Jewish Question: To Be or Not to Be [Pour en finir avec la question juive – l’être ou pas]
Author(s): Jean-Claude Grumberg
Nine comic seemingly impromptu encounters between two neighbors who cross paths on the stairs of their apartment building. Each encounter is an opportunity for the neighbors to question one another about their Jewish origins. Ideas and preconceptions about Jewish culture are challenged; Hitler and Auschwitz are discussed—all with a great deal of irony. Grumberg uses laughter to question preconceived ideas on the subject and as a means to ensure we never forget.
Format: Comedy
Cast Size: 2M
Notes:
After controversy over the ambiguity of the title Putting an End to the Jewish Question [Pour en finir avec la question juive], Grumberg added the subtitle To Be or Not to Be [L’être ou pas].
Reference material:
Jean-Paul Dufiet, “L’éternelle différence juive dans ‘Pour en finir avec la question juive’ de Jean-Claude Grumberg”, Littératures 77, 2017, pp. 127-140. Jean-Paul Dufiet, “Le discours de la judéité chez Jean-Claude Grumberg” dans Francesca Dainese and Elena Quaglia (dir.), “Contourner le vide : écriture et judéité(s) après la Shoah”, Giuntina, 2020.
Snapshot
Original or Prominent Production:
Théâtre Antoine, Paris, 2013. Directed by Charles Tordjman. Performed by Pierre Arditi and Daniel Rousso.
Théâtre Antoine, Paris, 2013. Directed by Charles Tordjman. Performed by Pierre Arditi and Daniel Rousso.
Nationality of Author: French
Original Language: French
Publisher:
Actes Sud, 2019; 2017; 2013
Experience(s) Chronicled: Allegoric or Metaphoric Representations | Survivors and Subsequent Generations | Reactions to the Holocaust
HTC Insights
Views, reference and research of interest.
Lifetime Achievement Award
On September 30, 2024, French playwright, Mr. Jean Claude Grumberg received the Lifetime Achievement Award. It was presented by NJTF HTII President, Arnold Mittelman with Dominique Trimbur, PhD-Manager for the History of Anti-Semitism and the Holocaust, Teaching of the Holocaust of Fondation Pour La Memoir de la Shoah Project.
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