Shabbat candles were lit in the Ukrainian State Drama Theater on Friday
by Vladimir Matveyev
On Friday, September 23, Kiev's Ivana Franko drama theatre was sold out for a performance after Sholom Aleichem's Fiddler on the Roof, here called Tevye the Milkman, which has been on the stage for the 16th season. Such a success of the performance on the Jewish subject in a country considered by many in the west to be anti-Semitic, lies in the outstanding staging of Russia's Jewish stage-manager Grigoriy Gorin, brilliant acting of the Ukrainian actor Bogdan Stupka, topical ideas of Sholom Aleichem and never-ending interest of many Ukrainians to the Jewish life.
Most of the audience is non-Jewish. Sergei Komisarenko, former vice-premier of Ukraine and ex-ambassador of Ukraine to the United Kingdom, told JTA in the interval of the performance that it was his sixth visit of Tevye performance. "In 1990 I took Leonid Kravchuk (the first president of independent Ukraine) to see the performance. This performance is still so popular in Ukraine because it is staged after Sholom Aleichem's outstanding story, by producer Gorin, with beautiful music and dances and talented acting of Bogdan Stupka. This unique combination makes success for the performance in Ukraine, the motherland of Sholom Aleichem."
There are many performances with Tevye in the world. Tevye the Milkman was on the stage of Odessa theatre in the 1960-1970's. But a real renaissance of Tevye on the stage of the former Soviet Union as well as a revival of the Jewish life began in Gorbachov's perestroika. This character was given a new life due to Grigoriy Gorin's play "Funeral Prayer".
The Ukrainian non-Jewish actor Bogdan Stupka in the "anti-Semitic" country managed to perform a Jewish character better than a Jew. This is a phenomenon but it is natural and we can hear an explanation of it in the performance itself: "Ukrainians are the closest to Jews," said Tevye-Stupka from the stage.
"The actor is like a fiddler on the roof: he is full of search, tours and travels. The life of actor is similar to wandering stars, the fate of Jews," said Bogdan Stupka.
Stupka is widely recognized in Ukraine as Ukraine's most famous living actor. Many think that Tevye is his most memorable stage role in the last ten years. "The actor of genius Bogdan Stupka gets into a psychology of his character to complete reincarnation. His laugh through tears is a laugh of Sholom Aleichem, " said Aleksandr Zlotnik, popular Ukrainian composer and president of the Association of Reform Jewish congregations in Ukraine.
Talented Stupka knows the Jewish life very well. He was brought up and educated among Jews in western part of Ukraine where Jewish traditional life was displayed more vividly than in other regions of Ukraine. "At home and in the theatre - everywhere I lived and communicated with Jews. In western Ukraine where I grew up Jews were very religious. They invited me for celebrations of their fests," recalled Stupka.
"Stupka is from Galichina. He lived under Polish rule and saw there the traditional Jewish life. I like the performance and think that Stupka's acting as Tevye is the best I have seen," said Giliariy Lyapitskiy, member and activist of Kiev Jewish community. Reform rabbi Alex Dukhovny echoed him: "Stupka managed to outstandingly act as a Jew who shows loyalty to his traditions. It is our traditions and faith which make us who we are."
Many Ukrainians say that the Yiddish culture and literature which were widely spread in Ukraine a century ago and almost vanished nowadays are very interesting for them. "I was always fond of the stories by Sholom Aleichem. I like them very much and find that life of Tevye family is well-known for my grand-parents who used to live in Berdichev," said Oksana Vishnia, Ukrainian student.
"There is always an interest to the different. Tevye is a classical personage whose roots are in Ukraine," said Eduard Dolinsky, executive director of the United Jewish Community of Ukraine.
Franko theatre tries to save the cultural heritage of Jewish people in Yiddish. Such a popularity of the Tevye performance during 16 years on the stage of the leading Ukrainian state drama theatre says about the demand for this Jewish cultural layer in modern Ukraine. "We always have a full theatre hall and all tickets for this performance are sold out," said the theatre's administrator.
We can find a true change in many Ukrainians who are interested in Jewsih culture and have helped to bring it back because they realize that the Jews were such a vital part of Ukrainian history for 1,000 years.
Thanks to Stupka and non-Jewish troupers Ukrainians have rare opportunity to see with their eyes Jewish way of life, traditions which were an integral part of life in Ukraine of 19th century when nature of traditional Jewish life was different from nowadays. It is also important because the last decade has seen some revival of Jewish life in some Ukraine's former shtetls but little is reminiscent of the time when Sholom Aleichem lived in Ukraine.
The loss of Yiddish culture through the murder of millions of Jews can't be so easily erased through the "Tevye the milkman." But thanks to the performance people can get acquanted with rich Jewish heritage. The performance famoliraze visitors with it by showing basic ritual items such as a Torah, yarmulke, tefilin and Shabbat candels. Jewish folk dances and music added a touch of authencity.
Tevye the Milkman is not only a celebration of Jewish experience. This amazing performance is an inspiration to all, Jews and non-Jews, serving as universal affirmation of the inner strength and faith within each and everyone of us. "A great role in the popularity of the performance is played by the Old Testament which is in the basis of Sholom Aleichem's story. The family is like a small state and Sholom Aleichem showed it by the example of a typical Jewish family," said Stupka.
The performance has a real success among the Ukrainian audience. It looks like the love of Ukrainians to Tevye will live long in spite of recent outburst of anti-Semitic sentiments in modern Ukraine. "It is a tragedy when hostility between people has ethnic roots. At the anti-Semitic background we prove the opposite – the frienship between Ukrainians and Jews," said Stupka, wiping the sweat from his forehead after acting three hours in the performance.
2005, Kiev