Village Voice

Molly
Grogan

March 26, 2014

Jewish history is the story of the underdog, so perhaps it’s natural that the characters in Target Margin Theater’s latest explorations in Yiddish drama bear some resemblance to the animated canine superhero, or any standard issue DC Comics defender. With capes trailing and blue spandex blazing, TMT flies up, up, and away into mock-heroic metaphor with the campy Uriel Acosta: I Want That Man!, which finishes off the second season of Beyond the Pale, a project of almost biblical proportions, with 23 productions in two years. The actual Acosta was a 17th-century Portuguese Christian and Rationalist who converted to Judaism, was excommunicated for his radical views, recanted, committed suicide, and wound up a stock figure of Yiddish theater claimed and contested by rival actors. But his significance soars Superman-like over us in this 70-minute, go-go-booted exodus from the philosophical high ground of a real-life apostate to the murkier marshland of his numerous fictionalized representations.

Stage And Cinema

Daniel
Glenn

March 25, 2014

For as long as religious authorities have tried to police minds, the question has been asked: “Why is God letting me think these things if I’m not allowed to?” Uriel Acosta, a Jewish rebel in 17th century Amsterdam, posed this and other questions at the risk of his life. An adaptation from “myriad literary and historical sources,” this production features four actors sharing a variety of characters in a high-energy, inventive, collage-like depiction of an iconoclastic thinker. Styles and forms are cycled through at a rapid pace. The actors parody melodrama or strike a tableau, then drop character and mumble about where to go get a snack. Old texts are translated into modern slang or broken up into a kind of poignant blackout poetry. And throughout it all, musical interludes and rock star moments bubble up infectiously.

Ben
Brantley

March 25, 2014

You can tell that the conversation had being going on for a long time before you arrived at this party. I mean, a really long time — weeks, months, maybe years. Yet the highly animated people in residence at the Chocolate Factory in Long Island City, Queens, show no signs of fatigue. And though you’re not quite sure what they’re talking about, it’s hard not to catch their excitement. That’s the experience of walking in on Uriel Acosta: I Want That Man!, the latest installment of Target Margin Theater’s exploration of Yiddish theater and a show that begins in mid-gabfest, with all the cast members talking at once. The first words that I was able to hear clearly: “You want it to be simple. It’s not that simple.” That is definitely an understatement.

March 26, 2014

March 26, 2014