We are now less than 46 hours away from the Roundhouse Studio – not that I’m counting or anything – and it is all starting to come into focus.
One of the primary aims of Broken Glass is the meeting of dialogue-driven and physical theatre, and the primacy of live material wherever possible. In ‘The Golem’ physical performance and live music form an essential combination, in a production which is greatly indebted to the various talents of our performers: the skills of our actors, Alex and Tom’s music – itself so integral to the atmosphere and indeed the very rhythm of the play, and the ingenuity of Andrew’s set design – quite literally the fabric of our play’s world.
For us the tale of Athanasius Pernath, his experiences and his time, is a very public spectacle: the mysteries, crimes, loves and small acts of kindness of the ghetto are a type of giant human puppet show, presided over by Zwakh, the master-puppeteer. As a representation of a the time and place documented by Meyrink, and a particular way of telling stories – in a world where stories are the lifeblood of its inhabitants – we hope we have remained faithful to the atmosphere and tone of Meyrink’s novel.
A short synopsis of ‘The Golem’ is below, and a link to an extract from the adaptation – Zwakh’s prologue – as published on crashmagazine.co.uk – by way of both explanation of the original golem myth and a taster of the play.
THE STORY
‘The Golem’ is Viennese writer Gustav Meyrink’s most famous work, following the protagonist Athanasius Pernath through the streets of Prague’s Jewish quarter, in the days before the destruction of the ghetto. During this time the mysterious figure of the golem, whose appearance has heralded bloodshed in the quarter for hundreds of years, is glimpsed.
Through the stories of the community around him, Pernath encounters the crimes of the crooked ophthalmologist Dr Wassory, the tragic love of the magistrate Dr Hulbert, and the brutal murder of Zottman the freemason. These tales are interwoven with Pernath’s own experiences – the golem’s first visitation, the supernaturalism of his encounters with the Kabalist Hillel and his daughter Miriam, the rising threat and intrigues of the starving student Charousek, and Pernath’s final meeting with the golem in the fabled house on the Altschugasse. The history of the golem’s presence in the Jewish quarter runs through it all.
Zwakh’s prologue is published in Crash Magazine, here.
