The Minneapolis premiere of Paula Vogel's drama
Pulitzer Prize winner Paula Vogel's startling play heads to the Guthrie in spring 2018, showing another side of Sholem Asch's contentious works, God of Vengeance. Centered on a Jewish couple who run a brothel, and featuring a lesbian love story, Asch's work caused a storm of controversy on its New York debut, and was eventually shuttered and the cast put on trial for obscenity. Indecent traces the lives of those creative minds involved in the work with wit and warmth.
What to expect
Comprising a cast of only seven, who all play multiple characters throughout, Indecent is just as exciting theatrical achievement as it is an exploration of changing social mores. It was met with near unanimous praise on its Off-Broadway debut, with The New York Times labelling it a "superbly realized production."
Written in Yiddish, Polish writer's Sholem Asch's God of Vengeance was a daring and boundary-pushing work set in a brothel. The story follows the Jewish couple who run the establishment, whose efforts to keep their daughter from joining the family business are dashed when she falls in love with their most prized prostitute. The work was fairly well received across Europe, but upon in English language debut in 1920's New York, it caused a storm of controversy. The show was shuttered and the cast put on trial for obscenity.
