Zooming in on the Career of Multi-Talented Galit Klas: A "Page It & Stage It!" Reflection - 11am, Saturday, 19 June 2021
Zooming in & Reflecting on the Career
&
Conversation between
Multi-Talented
 |
| Left to Right: Galit Klas, Boxy Ringside, Elsie & Graeme Johnstone |
On the 19th of June,
an enthusiastic Zoom audience was treated
to a conversation between
Mentone Public Library president
Graeme Johnstone
and singer/actor/writer/director Galit Klas.
We were introduced to Galit by character,
Boxy Ringside; then we got a taste of Galit’s style
by watching a medley of her performances over the years;
the audience were clearly impressed by her talent.
I was surprised to hear that while
several members of Galit's family played musical instruments,
none of them had a musical career.
We learned early in Galit's career,
Galit was influenced by Edith Piaf,
and when we saw a clip of her performing
one of Piaf’s tunes,
I was mesmerised.
If I had closed my eyes and been told it was Edith Piaf,
I would have believed it.
So I was surprised to see her humorous performance
of an outspoken, boisterous Centrelink worker.
I think this certified her incredible acting talent.
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| Yiddish Takes Centre-Stage |
We got to see more of her sense of humour
in her performance of
The Yiddish Idiot Song,
which, in the clip,
she introduced to us with the line
“Some things you can say in Yiddish
you can’t say in any other language.”
This was after we found out that she rebelled
against her Hebrew speaking family
to learn Yiddish at university.
The section of conversation
that stood out for me most was
Galit’s theatrical project
Ghetto Cabaret.
Depicting an array of entertainers incarcerated
in an unknown Jewish ghetto during the Holocaust,
the production depicted the power of art and performance
as agents of resistance against the persecution
inflicted upon its ghetto inhabitants.
We learned Galit’s directorial conception was born
from actual performances organised by Jewish artists
incarcerated in the ghettos throughout Europe
during World War II.
Additionally, the songs performed by Galit’s cast were
penned and performed by the actual ghetto inhabitants
70+ years ago.
Sadly, many of these artists did not survive.
Their words and music however, did see liberation,
thereby bringing the artists' legacies
to a new-found stage and audience
for today.
We were privileged to see two versions of
Galit’s historical portrayal of Jewish ghettos
during the Holocaust;
“A Night to Remember” (2017) and “Ghetto Cabaret” (2019).
Galit wrote and directed the 2017 production,
returning two years later to write
and step in front of the curtain for its
2019 re-envisioned reprisal.
In both cases, the musical style reflected
the musical zeitgeist of the time:
defiance in the face of oppression.
I found this incredibly moving and heart-warming.
REVIEW PART TWO
by
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| https://www.facebook.com/daviesnathanielj |
Nathaniel Reflects on
Galit's Powerful Resonance
on her Audience
Galit Klas’ behind-the-scenes stories
of the different projects in her career
were sometimes happy and encouraging:
a woman being celebrated for her creativity and success;
at other times, these stories brought some tears.
Ghetto Cabaret encapsulated all this.
In its original staging, Galit recalled the
Holocaust survivors in the audience singing along,
remembering the songs from their days in the ghettos.
Later in question time,
a Zoomer shared her grandmother's
memory of life in Lodz Ghetto.
Her grandmother’s older brother was in fact
writing a play one evening for his fellow
Lodz Ghetto residents,
when he unwittingly forgot curfew and disappeared.
Her grandmother never learned what became of him.
The Zoomer remarked Ghetto Cabaret very much
served as a memorial candle
to her grandmother’s lost brother
and his own creative pursuit
to lift the spirits and bring hope to all
confined within the ghetto walls.
Lockdown for Galit was hard.
In a pre-pandemic world,
it had been a dream come true for Galit
to learn that she would be part of an
international Yiddish production of
‘Fiddler on the Roof’...but then it was cancelled.
She said even in the most recent
lockdown of May-June 2021,
had to reschedule a few things in order to keep going.
She recognised lockdown
‘was difficult for everyone’ not just her.
One triumph from Lockdown 2020 was
Kadimah debuting
Uploaded to Kadimah's "On Demand" webpage,
Kadimah's Yiddishists translated Shakespeare's
most celebrated monologues
and then called upon the performers of
Kadimah Yiddish Theatre
to perform them as audio recordings.
It was interesting to hear
Galit’s performance of
Lady Macbeth’s monologue
‘The Raven Himself is Hoarse’ from Macbeth.
A Zoomer noting:
"To hear you doing Lady Macbeth (in Yiddish) was so superb.
It didn't really matter that I couldn't understand
what you were saying.
You have such a powerful female energy
that is sexual and alive and fiery and glorious..."
Question time was introduced by an
inebriated characterisation of
Dame Judy Dentures, as performed by Julia,
adding humour to the formalities of directing people
to submit questions to Galit.
Among the many great questions,
there was also a deluge of praise for Galit.
It was exclaimed by one audience member
that Yiddish was a dramatic,
whole body experience;
a highly emotional language that lent itself to theatre.
This rang true in Galit’s performances.
COMING UP...
Catch Galit on stage later this July in
"Durkh a Modnem Gloz" / "Through a Strange Lens"
Galit's current performance project involves
a collaboration with
Melbourne electronic music wizard,
Abrahams' electronic sound
has been renowned by fans and musical critics
alike since the 1990’s.
Directed by Garry Abrahams,
the production features poetry
along the themes of love and sex
by some of Yiddish classic literature's
most influential women writers.
Galit will perform the works in Yiddish
against an original contemporary
electronic musical score.
Galit bills the show as a
Yiddish-Techno-Weimar Cabaret.
LONG TERM PLANS...
In the long-term,
Galit is working with designers
on building a new 300-seat theatre for Elsternwick's
Kadimah Jewish Cultural Centre and National Library
to further strengthen
the Yiddish theatre scene in the area.
Galit said the unique thing about Melbourne
is there is a very traditional Jewish community
built largely from Yiddish-speaking Holocaust survivors.
“With (Melbourne having) a Yiddish school and theatre,
we are probably one of the only theatres
in the world that (not only performs) but
creates original works in Yiddish.”
Graeme Johnstone concluded the session
by asserting everyone’s
sentiments and appreciation
for Galit joining us on Zoom
to share some pages from her
professional stages with us.
Learn More About Galit: Here
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