Tadeusz Słobodzianek's Our Class, an intimate portrayal of a society living in the shadow of the War-time pogroms staged by Studio 180 and the Canadian Stage Berkeley Street, has garnered substantial attention in the North American press
The story of the drama is set in 20th century Poland and is inspired by true events, such as the Jedwabne pogrom which led to the bloody demise of 300 Polish Jews in 1941. In Poland Słobodzianek's Our Class caused much controversy before winning the Nike Literary Prize 2010, the most prestigious Polish literary award.
Directed by Joel Greenberg and based on the translation by Ryan Craig, the play premiered on the Canadian Stage on April 4, 2011. Joel Greenberg is a seasoned director and playwright, winner of the Chalmers and Dora theatrical awards. He is also the founding member and Artistic Director of Studio 180.
Technically, the play is a remarkable achievement. It manages to tell its entire story through its 10 representative characters, with no recourse to small-part doubling or to lengthy expository monologues. Joel Greenberg's production shows Studio 180 at its semi-documentary best: speedy, rigorous, humane. Chairs are again the only furnishings; the actors line up at the back of the stage as each passes out of life, though not out of their fellows' consciousness.
- Robert Cushman in the National Post
(full review:
link*Our Class is a Mortality Play at its Best*http://arts.nationalpost.com/2011/04/12/our-class-is-a-mortality-play-at-its-best**)
Our Class is an ensemble piece, but the cast is uneven and certain performances shine more brightly than others. Michael Rubenfeld attains gravitas as Abram, who emigrates to America before divisions become deep and thus preserves an image of his friends still united and innocent. Amy Rutherford is heart-rending as Dora, who tries to comprehend why former classmates would rape her and burn her alive. Ryan Hollyman and Poch-Goldin are equally gripping as complex characters—one Catholic, one Jewish—whose anger brings about their own destruction. Through these 10 intricately intertwined lives, Slobodzianek creates a portrait of human frailty and brutality in the 20th-century that makes for uncomfortable but necessary viewing.
- Eyeweekly.com
(full review: Our Class)
The ensemble Greenberg has assembled brims with talent, both young and established. Among the Jewish children, Amy Rutherford breaks hearts as the heartbreaker Dora; Alex Poch-Goldin makes for a melancholy and mysterious Menachem, whose life turns in the most historically eventful circles; and Michael Rubenfeld brings a joyful glow to the stage as Abram, who leaves the village at a young age and becomes an outside eye to the horrors back home.
As for the Poles, head-of-the-class performances come from Ryan Hollyman as Rysiek, whose energetic awkwardness curdles into something darker after he is the victim of violence; Stratford's Jonathan Goad as Zygmunt, the least sympathetic character, who eventually becomes the most eerily compelling; and Kimwun Perehinec as Zocha, who later in life is declared Righteous Among the Nations, but wishes she hadn't been. (Jessica Greenberg and Mark McGrinder – who, along with Perehinec, are members of Studio 180's core artistic team – are more uneven in their portrayal of a complicated, interfaith couple.)
-J. Kelly Nestruck in The Globe and Mail
(full review: Our Class: an object lesson in the random horrors of history) **Source: arts.nationalpost.com, www.eyeweekly.com, www.theglobeandmail.com