ANCHOR INTRO: For the Globe’s new production of The 27th Man, playwright Nathan Englander found inspiration in an incident known as the Night of the Murdered Poets that took place under Stalin’s regime. KPBS arts reporter Beth Accomando says the play finds a surprising humor within the tragedy. TAG: The 27th Man runs now through March 22 at the Globe’s Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre. The seed for “The 27th Man” was planted years ago in Nathan Englander’s head when a professor made an off-handed remark about a group of Yiddish writers imprisoned and executed by Stalin in the 1950s. NATHAN ENGLANDER: Hearing about these writers erased by Stalin. it just touched on some deep sense of injustice that I couldn’t handle, it simply didn’t feel fair and I thought nobody is giving them a chance to tell their story and with humility the idea came that I better try to be the one to write it. The Globe’s Barry Edelstein directed the world premiere of Englander’s play in New York in 2013. BARRY EDELSTEIN: It’s based on an actual historical event that most people don’t know about that’s called Night of the Murdered Poets in August of 1952, there were these great Yiddish writers that had been encouraged by the regime in the Soviet Union and then near the end of his life Stalin turned on them, arrested them, tortured them and executed them. Englander takes these facts and creates a fictional story about four Yiddish writers – three veteran authors and one young unpublished one -- sharing a prison cell and pondering their fate. Englander tackles the politics of the situation but he also finds something personal and universal in the story. NATHAN ENGLANDER: If you spend your whole life writing and no one ever reads a word is it as a writer that you die? That’s what I wanted to know as a twenty-something writing and thinking no one is ever going to read a word that was what I wanted to explore, was it an honest writing life that I was living. The play asks how one becomes a writer and can you declare yourself an artist by just doing art or do you need some outside certification. Edelstein says the play prompts questions about what artists do and why we feel the need to tell stories. BARRY EDELSTEIN: How are stories necessary, why do some political views find stories and metaphor threatening. That is all too sadly relevant right now as we see more journalists in jail at this moment than ever before. Hal Linden plays one of the venerable writers in the prison cell. HAL LINDEN: It’s as much about the process of writing as it is about the politics, it’s also about losing a culture. CLIP Stain had a better idea, wipe out Yiddish culture Englander tries to convey some of that Yiddish culture in the way his characters speak. The play may be in English, but Linden says Englander makes it feels like it’s in Yiddish. HAL LINDEN: He uses not only cadences but constructions… one character says how to know such and such, we would say how do you know so it’s not only the cadences but it’s practically translated directly from Yiddish you get that impression CLIP [example] Englander says the Yiddish cadence and structure comes naturally to him thanks to his upbringing. NATHAN ENGLANDER: I feel like I was living in New York but getting educated like fully in Yiddish rhythms even though it was in English. I should wait here for you to show up here at 5 o’clock. Like every sentence I heard was constructed in the reverse and that’s still how I think and how I write. In the play, Stalin wants to wipe out the Yiddish language along with the writers, which gives Linden pause. HAL LINDEN: One would imagine for instance if everybody in the world spoke the same language we might not have the rifts that we have but then again look how much culture and texture we’d be losing. But in the face of this great loss, of wiping out an entire culture, the characters in the play find unexpected humor says Edelstein. BARRY EDELSTEIN: that’s really the thing that distinguishes the Yiddish culture and very specific kind of Jewish voice which is this intensely ironic cast that’s funny and warm and witty and surprising and that’s in every line of this play… It’s dark and funny at the same time and you never quite know which it is first they are just both there all the time. Englander says he can’t unravel the two. NATHAN ENGLANDER: If someone picks up the phone with bad news I feel like that comes with a joke in my world and I feel like it would be unsustainable, it wouldn’t be true, it’s not to leaven it or lighten it or make a lighthearted play about imprisoned people I just think that even in the moment that as I imagine there’s no way that I could sustain the gravity of that without the humor of it too. It’s a humor that emphasizes the humanity of the characters says Linden. HAL LINDEN: This is a very serious subject and we spend all our time looking for what’s to smile at, what can I laugh at here, especially people at the end of their lives laugh at it so finding the humor in the piece and hopefully the audience will find it too. And discover a story from history with which they might not be familiar. Beth Accomando, KPBS News.
For the Old Globe’s new production of "The Twenty-seventh Man," playwright Nathan Englander found inspiration in an incident known as the Night of the Murdered Poets that took place under Stalin’s regime.
The seed for “The Twenty-Seventh Man” was planted years ago in Nathan Englander’s head when a professor made an offhanded remark about a group of Yiddish writers imprisoned and executed by Stalin in the 1950s.
"Hearing about these writers erased by Stalin, it just touched on some deep sense of injustice that I couldn’t handle," Englander said. "It simply didn’t feel fair and I thought nobody is giving them a chance to tell their story and with humility the idea came that I better try to be the one to write it."
The Globe’s Barry Edelstein directed the world premiere of Englander’s play in New York in 2013.
"It’s based on an actual historical event that most people don’t know about that’s called Night of the Murdered Poets in August of 1952," Edelstein explained. "There were these great Yiddish writers that had been encouraged by the regime in the Soviet Union and then near the end of his life Stalin turned on them, arrested them, tortured them and executed them."
Englander takes these facts and creates a fictional story about four Yiddish writers – three veteran authors and one young unpublished author - sharing a prison cell and pondering their fate. Englander tackles the politics of the situation but he also finds something personal and universal in the story.
"If you spend your whole life writing and no one ever reads a word, is it as a writer that you die?" Englander said. "That’s what I wanted to know as a twenty-something writing and thinking no one is ever going to read a word. That was what I wanted to explore - was it an honest writing life that I was living."
The play asks how one becomes a writer and can you declare yourself an artist by just doing art or do you need some outside certification. Edelstein said the play prompts questions about what artists do and why we feel the need to tell stories.
"How are stories necessary? Why do some political views find stories and metaphor threatening? That is all too sadly relevant right now as we see more journalists in jail at this moment than ever before," Edelstein said.
Hal Linden (perhaps best known to television audiences as the title character of the long-running "Barney Miller") plays one of the venerable writers in the prison cell.
"It’s as much about the process of writing, as it is about the politics. It’s also about losing a culture," Linden said.
Englander tries to convey some of that Yiddish culture in the way his characters speak.
"Ostensibly we’re speaking Yiddish even though it’s in English so the audience can understand," Linden said. "But [Englander] uses not only cadences but constructions (to capture the Yiddish language). It’s practically translated directly from Yiddish. You get that impression."
Englander said the Yiddish cadence and structure come naturally to him thanks to his upbringing.
"I feel like I was living in New York but getting educated like fully in Yiddish rhythms even though it was in English," Englander said before providing an example. "'I should wait here for you to show up here at 5 o’clock?' Like every sentence I heard was constructed in the reverse and that’s still how I think and how I write. If I pause it’s only to unravel in my head the right order of the words. Every character I write, they are all thinking like an old Yiddish grandma."
In the play, Stalin wants to wipe out the Yiddish language along with its writers, which gives Linden pause.
"One would imagine for instance if everybody in the world spoke the same language we might not have the rifts that we have but then again look how much culture and texture we’d be losing," Linden said.
But even in the face of this great loss, of the wiping out of an entire culture, the characters in the play find unexpected humor.
"That’s really the thing that distinguishes the Yiddish culture and very specifically the kind of Jewish voice, which is this intensely ironic cast that’s funny and warm and witty and surprising, and that’s in every line of this play," Edelstein said. "It’s dark and funny at the same time and you never quite know which it is first. They are just both there all the time."
But Englander can’t unravel the two.
"If someone picks up the phone with extremely bad news, I feel like that comes with a joke in my world," Englander said. "And I feel like it would be unsustainable. It’s not to leaven it or lighten a play about imprisoned people, but I just think that even in the moment that, as I imagine, there’s no way that I could sustain the gravity of that without the humor of it too."
It’s a humor that emphasizes the humanity of the characters.
"This is a very serious subject and we spend all our time looking for what’s to smile at, what can I laugh at here, especially people at the end of their lives laugh at it, so finding the humor in the piece and hopefully the audience will hear it too," Linden said.
And discover a story from history with which they might not be familiar.
"The Twenty-Seventh Man" runs now through March 22 at the Old Globe’s Sheryl and Harvey White Theatre.
