The Mad 7, written and performed by the agile actor/dancer Yehuda Hyman, takes an ancient tale by a nineteenth Century Hasidic, Rabbi Nachman and gives it a warmly humorous and contemporary re-interpretation. This is basically a Jewish Alice Through the Looking Glass, a tale of a personal, spiritual journey—whether the journey is in the mind of Elliott, Mr. Hyman’s central character, or is actually happening is of little importance.

Elliott first makes his appearance as a discontented, put-upon office worker in an unnamed company in an unnamed building in San Francisco. During his ritualized coffee break—sip coffee/eat pastry/read newspaper/repeat—he sits in the park across the street from his office until his comforting routine is interrupted by the tap-tapping of a blind man’s cane. This meeting leads poor, befuddled Elliott on a series of picaresque adventures as he is led by seven disabled, bigger than life characters. He forgets about work and begins a journey up the coast landing at a cheap, weird motel where he finds passageways that lead him to further adventures. These strangers include the blind man who can see, a deaf man who can hear, a stammerer, a physically twisted old lady and a footless man, each skillfully demarcated by Mr. Hyman, complete with different postures, accents and even music. Each brings out a different aspect of Elliott as he discovers his importance and independent spirit. He even trusts these life guides enough to jump off tall buildings when bidden by this new friends. He ignores his diffident office manager—who eventually understands Elliott’s quest—and in the end triumphs in a quiet way, becoming a more confident, spiritual man.

Along the way, a nasty naysayer harasses and challenges Elliott. This Greek chorus kvetch is a reflection of Elliott’s subconscious in the form of a projected image that constantly tries to break Elliott’s spirit with increasingly virulent observations. Also projected on the textured backdrop were descriptive titles that helped place the action.

The production was elegantly simple: just a backdrop, a chair and Mr. Hyman, dressed in everyday street wear. Mr. Hyman uses Jewish-inflected music throughout, keeping his ties with the original, which must have been as colorfully theatrical. When Rabbi Nachman first spun his tale in the 19^th Century the spiritual creatures he created resonated with his audience. Mr. Hyman’s equivalents both repel us with their deformities and attract us with their humorous quirks and mysterious utterances.

Mr. Hyman created his own choreography which included lively flamencos and joyful Hasidic cavorting. His creative colleagues provided quiet support in the set design (Narelle Sissons & Sofia Belenky), costume design (Kristin Fiebig) and lighting design (Mary Louise Geiger & Natalie Robin).

The Mad 7 takes its audience on a long, mysterious journey with humor, skill and sophistication. It is to Yehuda Hyman’s credit that The Mad 7 so fully repays all his research and theatrical sophistication with an incredibly detailed and satisfying work, populated by colorful characters and mysterious situations.


The New York International Fringe Festival
4^th Street Theatre
83 East 4^th St.
New York, NY
August 13^th – 29^th, 2010
Ticket Information: http://www.FringeNYC.org or http://www.themad7.com or 866-468-7619
More Information: http://www.themad7team.com