LA Review: 'New Jerusalem'

Although David Ives' 2007 account of Jewish philosopher Baruch de Spinoza and his fateful encounter with civic and religious authorities in mid-17th-century Amsterdam isn't easy sledding, it's unusually compelling. This imaginative play of ideas receives a striking West Coast premiere that may leave its audiences reeling, thanks to director Elina de Santos and a dream cast.

The play's subtitle, "The Interrogation of Baruch de Spinoza at Talmud Torah Congregation, Amsterdam, July 27, 1656," sums up its premise. There are no historical records of what transpired when Spinoza found himself summoned before the city's regent, chief rabbi, and temple parnas to defend his allegedly heretical views. Ives concocts a spiritual courtroom drama fueled by skillful reductions of Spinoza's writings, tension-cranking quips—"There is no Jewish dogma, only bickering"—and well-judged twenty-twenty hindsight.

The results are occasionally pedantic but more often vital and engrossing—Tom Stoppard meets Bertolt Brecht gone kosher. Accordingly, the ever incisive de Santos approaches Ives' text with equal parts vérité and evocation. Treating the venue as though it were Temple Torah and the audience assembled witnesses, de Santos' staging makes it impossible to distance oneself from the debate, aided by designer Stephanie Kerley Schwartz's spare set and choice modern-day costumes, Leigh Allen's subtle lighting, and a perfectly pitched ensemble.

Marco Naggar, his boyish appeal tempered with flashes of steel, is ideal as Spinoza. Mark Bramhall makes city regent Abraham van Valkenburgh an almost sympathetic adversary who gradually implodes as the scope of Spinoza's philosophy becomes clear. Richard Fancy wields his immense dynamic range with laser-beam precision as Rabbi Saul Levi Mortera, whose near-paternal sympathies toward his former rabbinical student do not preempt his survival instincts, and Shelly Kurtz goes from cuddly to feral as Jewish community leader Gaspar Rodrigues Ben Israel.

Kate Huffman brings enormously touching directness to Clara van den Enden, the gentile music teacher with whom Spinoza is platonically involved. Todd Cattell's understated charm effortlessly inhabits painter Simon de Vries, Spinoza's benignly treacherous housemate. Brenda Davidson attacks the caustic interjections of half-sister Rebekah de Spinoza with such seriocomic conviction that you forget her role is perhaps the most contrived. Their group finesse draws in the viewer without grandstanding, and theatergoers should prepare to crumple as this potent think piece reaches its emotionally devastating climax.

Presented by West Coast Jewish Theatre at the Pico Playhouse, 10508 W. Pico Blvd., L.A. Feb. 10–April 1. Thu.–Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 3 p.m. (323) 821-2449 or www.wcjt.org.