Heroic Shin Bet agent Mickey (Uriah Jablonowsky) is ordered to travel back in time to save prime minister Yitzhak Rabin (Yitzhak Hizkiya) from being murdered by Yigal Amir (Lior Admoni.) With the brilliant Dr. Stressovitch (Maya Koren) and his good friend Goli (Dolev Ohana) by his side, Mickey will attempt to single handedly change the course of history - and also fix the past of his estranged parents.
Directed by Amit Apte and written by Yaron Edelstein, this effective comedy borrows heavily from the Back to the Future films, in which Marty McFly (Michael J. Fox) made a similar history-changing attempt. It also takes a few pages from Shraga Gafni’s Danidin youth-oriented books, with Prof. Stressovitch and her time machine replacing the purple potion Prof. Katros concocted to make the boy-wonder invisible.
Jablonowsky is excellent at inhabiting the role of the earnest, guilt-ridden Mickey. In contrast with Danidin, the character created by Gafni in the 1960’s to offer a heroic example to Israeli children, or brave Palmah fighter Uri in Moshe Shamir’s He Walked Through the Fields - shown at the Cameri theater two weeks after the State of Israel was created - Mickey is a parody. His role model is Avigdor Kahalani, who beat back the Syrian tanks during the Yom Kippur War. He is too clean-cut and too idealistic for his own good.
Ohana, in his role as Goli, provided the emotional interest Mickey lacked with style. An aspiring musician, Goli has a life outside the service. Like Biff Tannen, the villain in the Back to the Future movies, Goli attempts to turn his knowledge of the future into fame and money. His performance of the 2017 hit “Tudo Bom” by Static and Ben El to a cheering 1995 crowd was appreciated by the laughing audience, and his scheme to buy Tel Aviv apartments with Shin Bet (Israel Security Service) funds and become a real-estate mogul was hilarious.
The production cleverly shifts gears between jokes and darker shades of meaning. Admoni offered us a chilling depiction of Yigal Amir from an alternative future, one in which he did not murder Rabin and took another path - eventually becoming a minister.
Challenging Israeli comedy
The idea that the Rabin assassination was a pivotal moment in Israeli history - and that had he lived, peace with the Palestinians would have taken shape into a lived reality - is a powerful one. It does ignore other things, among them, the possibility that the Palestinian national movement refuses to accept a Jewish state in the region, and the emergence of a hard-right leaning, conservative Israeli middle class that denies all Palestinian aspirations.
Although Hizkiya offers us a splendid, emotionally moving depiction of Rabin, in the end, Mickey Saves the Day is a comedy. As is a theme in many comedies, the role of the older generations is usually to exit the scene and allow younger characters to attain happiness and success.
This is what happens in the Cameri Theater’s currently running musical Waitress. In it, Eli Gornstein inhabits the role of Joe, a diner owner who wills the restaurant to the talented Jenna (Meshi Kleinstein) after his death. This is also what happens here: Hizkiya’s Rabin offers an insight that gently pushes Mickey into a more mature life. This Rabin is meant to be a father figure to Mickey, not to redeem Israel.
Shamir and Edelstein share the unique experience of having their works staged during wartime. Shamir’s hero, Uri, was such an inspiration that IDF soldiers were taken to see the play before being deployed to fight at Sha’ar HaGai.
Comedies about the State of Israel were shown during the War of Independence as well. HaMatate Theater showed Our Country - May it Live Long by Martin Rust (Max-Milian Rosenkrantz). It was a satire about how different government positions are created and filled in the nascent Jewish state. Rosenkrantz was shot dead during the war while serving at an outpost near Mount Herzl.
In contrast, Mickey Saves the Day guffaws at people who admire those who beat back enemy tanks, and cautions against self-sacrifice for a greater good. Time will tell if this perspective will save the day.
“Mickey Saves the Day” will be offered three times in May and four in June: May 2 and May 4 at 8:30 pm, May 3 at noon and 9 pm, June 13 at 8:30 pm, June 14 at 12:30 pm and 9 pm, June 15 at 6 pm, and June 16 at 8 pm The cast includes Tom Gal, Tom Chodorov, Roni Natanel, and Yaeli Rozenblit. 90 minutes without intermission. Hebrew only. NIS 180 per ticket. The Cameri Theatre, 19 Shaul Hamelech Boulevard, Tel Aviv. Call (03) 606-0900 to book.
Ben-Ami Feingold’s 2001 study Israeli Theatre and 1948 War of Independence was used for this review.
