The revival a few years ago at the Everyman in Liverpool had a multicultural cast; the production's underlying idea was that somewhere in the world, at any given time, people are being forced by some regime or other to leave their homes to seek safety elsewhere. The final scene in that production was simply but brilliantly staged; as Tevye and his family started to push the cart out of Anatevka, the rest of the cast came on and started walking behind them - dressed in contemporary clothing and carrying improvised luggage, like the refugees we've all seen in the news over the last few years making their way across Europe after fleeing Syria/Libya/Afghanistan/South Sudan. There was a moment when you could feel the penny drop among the audience, and it was by some distance the most moving Fiddler I've seen. And the show always moves me.
That production's Golde, incidentally - Melanie La Barrie - is currently appearing on Broadway. She was *very* good, but then she always is. |
