Gimpel the Fool

Rating:

Company:Nephesh Theatre, Tel Aviv

Genre:Storytelling

Venue:3 The Playhouse Studio

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This Isaac Bashevis Singer classic features a cheating wife with multiple lovers and an unspeakable act committed against baked goods. Oy vey!- Michelle Palansky

Gimpel the Fool plays it old school style, transporting Fringe audiences back to the Eastern European shtetl life of the 1800s. Racier than I remembered, this Isaac Bashevis Singer classic features a cheating wife with multiple lovers and an unspeakable act committed against baked goods. Oy vey!

• Winnipeg Fringe 2016: read our reviews

In his one-man show, HowardRyppbrings this quintessential simpleton to life with disarming sweetness. Pre-recorded dialogue fills in for the rest of the town. The voice work itself is excellent but ghostly reverb audio effects evoke the1990smore than the1890s. And for the love of G-d, replace the wig andpayos(sidelocks).Gimpeldeserves better.

For those of us who prefer shorter shows the good news is thatGimpelthe Fool runs 15 minutes tighter than advertised. The bad news? It still feels a little slow.

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