Daniel’s Irena’s Vow

§ December 15th, 2008 § Filed under Irena's Vow

Irena’s Vow was a play of humanity, a play that depicted the true wonders of the human heart. Tovah Feldshuh brought to life Irene, a Polish woman who not only fought against the German regime, but also an instinct of personal survival. Irene’s Vow was a play of tragedy and happiness, a play of despair and hope, but most importantly a continuing tradition of spoken truth, knowledge and heritage.
Tovah Feldshuh depicted a woman in the epicenter of the Holocaust; she was with neither past nor future but with undiscovered principled heroism nonetheless. Through luck and raw goodness Irena was able to save the lives of a dozen Jews.  A natural leading lady Tovah Feldshuh enveloped her previous experience as the former Prime Minister, Golda Meir, to complement the rigid internal determination of Irene. Irene went from a worker at a Nazi estate, to a mistress of a celebrated Nazi official, Major Rugemer played by Thomas Ryan. Irena’s Vow was a look into the many different battles of the Holocaust, battles that ranged from birth of children to life beneath porches. These many different hardships intertwined to create the struggle within Irene, a woman plagued with uncurbed kindness and a self-destructive promise – to save a life. Such a promise leads a way to many events that could not only destroy one, but also all those that surround.
Tovah constructed a character that condensed all the virtues of humanity into a gleaming display of courage. It is no easy task to do all aspects of this touchy subject, but because of Dan Gordon’s and Michael Parva’s direction nothing but an objective blunt message was sent. A want for contemporary understanding of the weight of the Holocaust was clearly visible and a political theme was also quite explicit. Through a visibly detailed and dedicated performance the work of Dan Gordon came together to be a serious tribute to a Holocaust heroine along with a true grave comment on current adversaries of the free and humane world.