amdram.co.uk

• Mar 31st 2009 to Apr 3rd 2009

Event Details

• Group: Durham Musical Theatre Company

Address

• Address:
  
  Gala Theatre, Millennium Place, Durham City, Tyne & Wear
• Location: North East

Contact Details

• Contact: 0191 3324041 or derek [at] dmtc [dot] co [dot] uk

Extra Information

• Notes: The people of Anatevka, a small Jewish community in Tsarist Russia, earn their simple and precarious living from the land. Tevye, a milkman, is a devout and humorous man who believes that their strength derives from the age old laws of ‘tradition’. He explains that everyone is a ‘fiddler on the roof’, trying to scratch out a pleasant simple tune without breaking his neck. However, these traditions of a lifetime are to cause Tevye many heart-searching problems which he debates with God and his conscience. One of the most important customs in the community is that of the Matchmaker, who arranges suitable marriages for the villagers. Tevye first met his wife Golde on their wedding day and they were told that they would learn to love each other. To Golde’s amazement, Tevye asks her “Do you love me?” – after 25 years of marriage! Tevye and Golde have five daughters. The three eldest flout this solemn tradition and choose their own husbands. Tevye is unable to resist the look in his daughter Tzeitel’s eyes when she has given her pledge to Motel, a poor tailor. Even though a match has already been arranged between her and Lazar Wolfe, the butcher, he gives his permission for them to marry. Another of their daughters, Hodel, falls in love with Perchik, a student and revolutionist. Tevye is shocked when they ask for his blessing and not his permission to marry. Perchik leaves the village to join the struggle against the Tsar. Later, when Hodel hears he has been taken to Siberia, she immediately decides to join him. In a tearful farewell she promises her father she will be married under a canopy by a Rabbi. Their third daughter, Chava, realises the unhappiness it will cause if she becomes involved with Fyedka, a Russian and a Gentile, but she eventually gives way to her emotions and commits a terrible sin by marrying him. This time Tevye cannot turn his back on his faith and deny all his beliefs by accepting them and Chava is banished from the family. Anatevka gets caught up in the political upheaval when an edict decrees that Jewish families must leave their villages within three days. As they put together their few belongings, the villagers mourn for the sorry little place, which through all the familiarities and hardships shared, has been their home. Sadly, they leave to make new homes and live in Poland, the Holy Land and America.
• Webpage: http://www.dmtc.co.uk