Play: A Stranger Guest          

Playwright: Maurice Maeterlinck

Director: Vera Berzak Schneider

Group: Vera Berzak Schneider Theatre Group, Israel

Language: English

Duration: 53 min

The Play

A Stranger Guest is a visual theatre performance inspired by the play "The Intruder" by Maurice Maeterlinck. It takes place one evening in the house of a family — a father and two daughters, while the mother is lying sick in her room.

That day the doctor left her saying that her condition was getting better, yet the atmosphere in the house seems to indicate otherwise, and there's a sense of mystery concerning her fate. The family members are waiting for the aunt to arrive.

Something strange and rather unusual is happening on this particular evening. It is experienced by each character differently, and at a different point during the evening; someone, or something, is approaching the house, and its nearing presence is making them feel increasingly uncomfortable.

Director's Note

A Stranger Guest is dealing with a sadly common human situation - the illness of a person closely related to us. The play looks into the inner world of the family members - the emotional state and conflicts they are going through, as wells as the relationships between them. How does each one deal with that fear of loss? Who stubbornly clings to hope, and who is more realistic, and what memories float in their minds? Through gestures, movement, light, sound, as well as text, we have tried to express these emotions in the most sincere and authentic way.

The Director

Vera Berzak Schneider was born in 1987 in Russia, and now lives and works in Tel-Aviv, Israel.

She graduated from The School of Visual Theatre and pursued Performance Art studies in Bamat Meizag, under tutor Tamar Raban, Member of Performance Ensemble 209. Her work in the field of theatre includes The Parasite (writer and director), Karov Theatre in Tel- Aviv, Beit Mazeah Theatre in Jerusalem, Fringe Centre in Beer Sheva; Mesaprot (performer as part of Ensemble 209), Bamat Meizag Theatre in Tel- Aviv; Kaleidoscope (director and performer), Haifa Museum of Art; Killing Time (director), Gerard Bachar Centre in Jerusalem; Mitpashtot (performer as part of Ensemble 209), Live Sculptures Festival in Rehovot; Trade Victim - animation film (director and animator), ZDF Channel, Germany, and many more.

The Playwright

Maurice Maeterlinck (29 August 1862 – 6 May 1949) was a Belgian playwright, poet, and essayist who was a Fleming, but wrote in French. He was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1911. His plays form an important part of the Symbolist movement.

The Group

Vera Berzak Schneider Theatre Group started working together in 2012, when director Vera and actors Hadas and Shaked graduated from their theatre studies at the university. A Stranger Guest