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The Last Two Jews of Kabul Review by Patrick Gallagher In some ways, America’s war in Afghanistan amounted to one of those movies, like Captain America (1990), for which you see posters everywhere and constantly hear rumors about, but, mysteriously, never actually comes out. Just when you’re all set for the biggest comic book action (or foreign war) movie ever, it seems to disappear before it even reaches theaters. Josh Greenfeld’s The Last Two Jews of Kabul, acts in opposition to this phenomenon. The Last Two Jews of Kabul is a personal story about Afghanistan that uses its smallest minority—a two-man Jewish population—to take a closer look at what is left of Afghanistan. Based on a true story, Two Jews opens with the introduction of the “peace and quiet” existence of Avram (George Drance), the custodian of Kabul’s only synagogue. The synagogue has suffered from damage incurred over decades of war, but Avram maintains a basic standard of cleanliness and order. He is the only Jew in Afghanistan until he is disrupted by Wolf Alexander (Jerry Matz), a well-dressed Israeli, who demands that Avram take him in. It happens to be Friday, and Jewish law forbids Avram from withholding his hospitality to Wolf. Wolf promises to leave by the next day, but ends up staying a week, over the course of which he has plenty of time to sing the gospel of his true religion, Business. It would not be an oversimplification to say that Avram represents tradition, while Wolf represents the forces of change, fashion and economics that have threatened to erode tradition throughout history. Wolf speaks at length on the universality of “Business” in all things—the “nature business,” the “sex business,” the “religion business” and so forth. Avram shakes his head, shocked, when Wolf praises him for the way he conducts “this Jewish business.” Avram and Wolf’s debates consist of dialogue that is lively and sharp, but not especially original. For a while, Two Jews manages to transcend the obviousness of its themes, typified by the characters’ names, thanks to the conviction and strength of Drance and Matz’s performances. Drance invests Wolf with enough wild-eyed mania to make his behavior toward the end of the play plausible and Matz convincingly portrays a humble man who is close to death and yet remains a paragon of strength. In the first act, the play develops real momentum as the characters reveal themselves and the situation unfolds. Unfortunately, Two Jews squanders this momentum by setting up a surprise that, when finally revealed, turns out to be a silly joke and ultimately takes the story nowhere. From the beginning of the second act, the story has lost all of the dramatic tension that it accumulated in the first, and devolves into a series of increasingly contrived, comic situations. The ending suggests a sequel, but of an entirely different genre... Our heroes take to the streets in what resembles the beginning of an action-comedy buddy film, or possibly a “road” film along Bob Hope-Bing Crosby lines. It’s certainly possible that something ironic is meant with Two Jews’ gradual transformation from drama into wacky comedy, but the initial setup is so tense and articulate that what follows feels like taking the easy way out. For about a third of the show, the audience is transported to another place. The production creates the feeling of an entire city, riddled with bullets and fear, spreading out in all directions from the tiny, crumbling synagogue set. As the play progresses, the characters more like specific people and less like broad abstractions. However, despite the winding road the production takes, the play doesn’t seem to know enough about who the characters actually are to do anything with the ambiguity. In the second act, the key issue becomes the inability of either character to believe that the other is actually a Jew—but, unlike the dialogue in the first act, their debate in this part of the play feels stalled. It degenerates into name-calling, and, while Two Jews’ refusal to accept any easy answers may be praiseworthy, it also feels like it trails off, hits a dead end, like a political speech that begins as stirring oratory and mutates into confused, semi-comprehensible mumbling. Two Jews begins by setting a high standard for itself, bravely choosing a subject which is important and fecund. That’s why it’s so easy to be hard on it when it goes nowhere. But it’s also easy to be sympathetic. When it works, it is undeniably heartfelt in imparting the seriousness of what is at stake, and, if it doesn’t seem to know exactly what to think about the issues, at least it’s not in any worse position than the rest of us.
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