Nothing says drama like 17th-century philosophy. But seriously, New Jerusalem by David Ives (whose Venus in Fur is returning to Toronto in December) is gripping. The great rationalist thinker Spinoza loved God and logic, and he just couldn’t keep his unorthodox ideas to himself. He was attacked, theologically and even physically, for being a heretic. Ives’s play imagines what was said during the historical but unrecorded 1656 interrogation which aimed at excommunicating this exceptional man and exiling him from his Jewish Portuguese-expat community in Amsterdam.
New Jerusalem, presented by the Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company, combines the tension of a courtroom drama with an exploration of the foundations of belief, straddling the line between philosophy and religion. The audience is made a part of the action without any overt audience participation as director Mitchell Cushman makes excellent use of the venue, the Studio Theatre at the Toronto Centre of the Arts (south of North York Centre subway station), staging the initial scenes in the “market place” (lobby), where Spinoza is free and exuberant, before moving the action into the “synagogue” (the theatre proper) where he finds himself under interrogation, accused of disseminating heretical thoughts. The set and lighting (Nick Blais) combine to create an atmosphere supporting interactions that are by turns sacred, conspiratorial, communal, and judgmental.
Earlier in the century, Amsterdam’s Sephardic Jews made an agreement with the city that they would deal with any unorthodox beliefs surfacing within their own community. Now in 1656, Amsterdam is peaceful and tolerant, compared to much of Europe at that time, and Jews who have fled persecution in Portugal and elsewhere are allowed to live in Holland as foreign residents, but “silence is the price”. They are forbidden to hold public weddings or funerals, or to discuss religion with Christians. A city official (Michael Hanrahan), who is Christian, calls Holland “a glorious New Jerusalem for all of us.” But he is concerned that Spinoza is exceeding the limits of their tolerance. Mortera, Amsterdam’s chief rabbi (Alon Nashman), will not let his star pupil Spinoza be “a sacrificial victim to frighten my people.” He defends him, saying, “He is at Sabbath every week. You call that an atheist?”
The name Spinoza means “thorn,” and Spinoza is a thorn in the sides of community leaders and in the minds of believers. His application of logic even to emotionally fraught issues provokes friends to ask, “Don’t you ever feel anything?” Delving deep into thoughts that a believer ought to avoid, Spinoza holds religious teachings up to the light of logic and observable truths, and his ideas plant seeds in people’s minds which shatter the peace of their unexamined faith. Ives packs an impressive amount of philosophy and scripture into the dialogue, and he keeps all of it both compelling and comprehensible. Spinoza’s ideas are so at home in the 21st century that it is altogether fitting the cast is costumed in modern dress (costume designer, Laura Gardiner).
As Spinoza, Aris Athanasopoulos succeeds unequivocally in the difficult task of playing a highly intelligent, unwaveringly logical, scrupulously moralistic man, and still letting him be likeable, engaging, and believable. In stark contrast to the image of a philosopher as a dowdy old man with his nose stuck in a book, this character is playful and dynamic, despite respiratory problems (likely related to his day job as a lens grinder) which troubled his short life. He delights in drawing, poetry, riddles, and of course thinking.
Mitchell doesn’t let his actors sit idle; by natural transitions, characters reposition themselves physically and philosophically. The whole cast is physically expressive, a reminder that this play is as emotional as it is intellectual. Sascha Cole is outstanding as Spinoza’s fiery sister.
Ives depicts Spinoza, only 23 at the time of this interrogation, making arrogant but rationally supported assertions like “some of Descartes’ ideas were wrong” and “the Talmud is wrong”, and claiming to be on the brink of uncovering “a great truth. The truth of God. The truth of all life”, but also admitting that he is “still working it out.” Rabbi Mortera can’t believe Spinoza has the audacity to defy him and his teachings, but Spinoza confidently accepts the rabbi’s challenge to “Convince all of us that you’re right and that we…all the way back to Moses were wrong.”
This is a play is about dogma and reason, acceptance and rejection. Whatever your beliefs, New Jerusalem is a play for lovers of drama and thought.
New Jerusalem runs until April 15 at the Studio Theatre, Toronto Centre of the Arts, www.hgjewishtheatre.com
