Israeli manhood takes the field after October 7

The theater becomes a grassy field in 'Dick Pic,' a new production directed by Noa Wagner now showing at Seminar Hakibutzim. Stage designer Daniel Kaplan has created an open, refreshing space that easily transports us to a soccer match, a school playground, an al fresco wedding, crawling while being shot at ( and returning fire), and sprawling on the grass with good friends as the night falls.

A brisk-paced multi-faceted production, 'Dick Pic' offers a succession of mini-tales, all culled from messy real life.

These range from a child at a kindergarten removing the pants of a female child and kissing her rear (a transgression for which his parents are called in and he is sent away) to early attempts at masturbation and, as a young adult, facing the prospect of dying in war as a soldier on active duty.

Texts are screened as we listen to them being spoken. This gives the audience the sensation of being part of a friendly ongoing conversation – or perhaps, a therapy session.  

One of the joys of this performance is the intricate, sophisticated physical expression. In one of the childhood stories, a boy is refused permission to study the recorder in music class. A recorder, he is told, is for girls; boys are encouraged to strike the darbuka. Later in the performance, Omri Peled plays the recorder as he leads other men marching behind him wearing red dresses. 

A story about impotence is shared as actors attempt to scale a pillar, continuously sliding off it.

In Judaism, circumcision is undertaken in order to remember the covenant. To be male “zachar” hints at the ability to remember, “lizkor.” The structure of the play is that one anecdote or embarrassing tale shared brings another to mind. “Ze mazkir li,” (“that reminds me”) actors tell each other meaning, “that makes me more male (since “li” is “to me” and “remembering,” in this play, is presented within a male-only context).. Memory is also a meditation on our shared Israeli lives.  

Writing during the First Lebanon War, Adam Baruch claimed that “The tanks remind us of Gorodish (Shmuel Gonen). Gorodish reminds us of Haim Bar-Lev, Bar-Lev reminds us that for 25 years we, Israeli society, were the raw material used to generate the Moshe Dayan experience – and now, we are the raw material used by Ariel Sharon [for the same purpose].”

Dick Pic offers us a glimpse at the raw material, the human bodies and lives, often male, used to build the Bar-Lev line, the Gaza Border Security Fence, then hurled against the advancing enemy after it broke this seemingly perfect defense.  

In a painful scene, Guy Nataf plays a medic who calls for help to save a wounded comrade. This scene, which I saw when the play was first performed – days before the October 7 Hamas attack – now gains added layers of pain as war rages on. Nataf is a medic on reserve service.

With a delightful musical score, Dick Pic is much more than a woeful look at the toll war takes on the male soul. It also has men dancing the samba to the tune of “Alegria” (happiness) in the Yuksek (Pierre-Alexandre Busson) Remix. The show also offers inspired scenes with actors such as Matan Malachi and Oren Birnberg.

Malachi does a stunning gender-fluid comic role as a woman suffering after a break-up and demanding ice cream. Birnberg has a lovely scene in which he presents the audience with a sign language performance of Billie Holidays’ “The Man I Love.” 

In that sense, this is a not-to-be-missed presentation of the many sides to being a man in today’s world.

Dick Pic closes on Mon., Sept. 30. Performances are at 9 p.m. except Sun., Sept. 29 show given at 7 p.m. Hebrew only. Roughly 80 minutes, no intermission. Adults only. 9 Ehad HaAm St. Tel Aviv. Tickets at NIS 85. A group discount is available provided for 10 or more patrons. Call (03) 690-2337.