In Ron Elisha's two-person drama Two, set in Germany in 1948, a dispossessed Rabbi Chaim Levi (Howard Jerome) asks his mysterious new pupil, Anna (Cathy Dresbach), "What is a Jew?" It is the answer to this deceptively simple question that drives the drama. The play seeks to add skin and bones to the skeleton of Hebrew, and in the process it becomes a life lesson for both the rabbi and his haunted charge.
As "talking heads" plays go, this one offers a lot. The actual heart-thumping physical drama is encompassed in only a few minutes of stage business, but there's a lot to get the gray matter going. The discoveries about Hebrew, history, and the state of being Jewish are many and interesting, though it does at some points get a little dense and hard to follow.
Director Kayla Gordon has not cast two violinists, who are integral to the plot, instead asking the audience to suspend its disbelief by having the talented, classically trained Tara Planeta watch from a dark corner of the stage and take over when textually required. Though the situation is understandable, it is distracting that Gordon cannot find a way to link Planeta to the play's action. The director does what she can with dialogue and action that require a lot of sitting and observing while the intellectual themes are spun.
Dresbach's Anna is all business. The few emotional explosions from her character bubble up realistically, but then she returns to her steeliness. It's the kind of performance we've come to expect from this talented actress. Jerome, however, is a mystery. He believably embodies a lot of the despondent rabbi's emotional problems, but his vocal delivery is hesitant, like he's trying more to remember lines than to be expressive. Still, when the play requires a powerful connection between these two veteran actors, they are able to create a tenable bond that allows us to empathize with their interesting characters.
The script is episodic, and Gordon uses a lot of symbolism, such as the rumbling train that passes by Thom Gilseth's overly impressionistic, dreary, and somewhat distracting basement set. Gail Wolfenden-Steib's costumes are strangely period nonspecific, and the very modern look for Planeta is an unwise choice.
Two is an intellectual and emotional pursuit. It requires a lot of work on both sides of the footlights, but audience members who choose to invest will gain at least something for their efforts.
Two runs Feb. 11-26 at the Playhouse on the Park, Viad Corporate Center, 1850 N. Central Ave., Phoenix. Tickets: (602) 264-0402. Website: www.azjewishtheatre.org.