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Two notables
returned to New York last week, of the Yiddish theatre
world, the actress Clara Young, and her husband, the
director and actor Boaz Young. They spent fifteen months on
a tour across the main cities of Europe. They played in
Warsaw, Lodz, Vilna, Riga, Kovno, Paris, London and other
cities.
"It is true
that in Europe the economic conditions are worse than in
America," Mrs. Young explained to the "Forward" co-worker,
"But in Europe the theatre is not only an amusement, but a
necessity for the average person. There is just no exception
that a worker should refuse a meal, and with the few
groschens worry about getting a ticket to the theatre.
"The only
theatre that lowered its ticket prices was constantly
packed, unless the performances are so cheap that a European
will not want to see it."
Mainly, Mrs.
Young was enthusiastic about Paris. She believes that
there there is a ready field for a good Yiddish theatre
troupe. There are over one hundred Jewish organizations in
Paris. The organizations would be happy to support a
first-class Yiddish theatre.
It is a pity
that no one comes there with initiatives and energy and
builds a genuine, Yiddish theatre. he doesn't want only to
enrich the Jewish Paris with a beautiful, cultural
institution, but also concerned about a good part of the
world.
The Young's
plan to remain in America and play theatre here. They
brought back several new plays that they will stage here.
They even want to travel to Romania to play theatre.
However, they came home on Passover. And they are here, two
prominent guests in the Yiddish theatre world.
Both are fresh
and cheerful from their voyage, and both speak with
enthusiasm about traveling, about the things they have seen,
and the successes that they had. In Riga they played at the
same time that Feodor Chaliapin sang there. For Chaliapin a
ticket costs ten dollars, for Young -- three.
"And for both,
both for Chaliapin, as well as for us, the theatres were
oversold, -- Clara Young said, -- the newspapers picked this
up as a big news story and wrote articles about this." |
