It’s not often a performer is so incandescent, one cannot imagine another person playing the same role.
Such is the case with Ben Caplan, who stars in Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story at the Belfry Theatre. Bespectacled, bushy bearded and resplendent in a burgundy top hat, he’s a rip-roaring human dynamo.
Caplan flung himself around the stage with high-stepping abandon during a preview performance this week. As the Wanderer — a narrator/Greek-chorus character — he sings with gravel-voiced brio, sometimes channelling Tom Waits, sometimes sounding like Leonard Cohen’s secret twin. Simultaneously oozing lewdness and innocence, Caplan spouted charisma like a Texas oil geyser.
The Belfry first presented Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story in 2019 for its SPARK Festival. The company has brought it back due to popular demand.
Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story is about two Jewish refugees who flee Romania and Russia for Canada in 1912 to escape pogrom persecution. Produced by Halifax’s 2b Theatre Company, the tale is based on the family history of 91原创 playwright Hannah Moscovitch (the songs are written by co-creators Caplan and Christian Barry).
On the trans-Atlantic voyage, 19-year-old Chaim strikes up acquaintance with Chaya, 24. They agree to marry despite having vastly different personalities. Chaim (Eric Da Costa) is a wide-eyed optimist, while Chaya (Shaina Silver-Baird) is a truculent pragmatist who views marriage almost as a business arrangement.
Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story is a mix of genres. There are elements of historical drama and romantic comedy, yet the main ingredient is Weill/Brecht cabaret theatre. Dialogue is interspersed by Klezmer-flavoured songs. The actors, joined by drummer Andy Wiseman and keyboardist Jacques Arsenault, all sing and play instruments: guitar, banjo, accordion, violin, saxophone and clarinet.
There’s a pinch of cutesiness in the relationship between puppy-dog Chaim and unsmiling Chaya (both names mean “life” in Hebrew). This has led a few past critics to suggest that the show — which has been performed 400-plus times — suffers from sentimentality (“somewhat anodyne” sniffed London’s Guardian newspaper).
Yet that isn’t the case. The sheer horror of what the couple escapes undercuts any vestiges of soppiness. Indeed, Chaim’s description of his brother’s murder during a Russian pogrom is so mind-roastingly horrific, The Wanderer breaks the fourth wall to assure the audience everything’s fine.
Perhaps some mistake the show’s charm for sentimentality. But nostalgic glow is a deliberate choice. Moscovitch is influenced by traditional European fables and myths, often imbued with sweetness to mask bitter themes.
In part, Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story is about the act of story-telling and what happens to family history as it’s passed down from generation to generation. Moscovitch is intrigued by the intersection of fact and fiction. For instance, The Wanderer tells a few stories, only to admit they’re invented. It’s human nature to reinvent our pasts, the playwright suggests, and not necessarily such a bad thing.
The show explores human resilience in the face of calamity. Horrific experiences damage us — and yet some of us not only survive, but prosper. When Chaya asks Chaim why he chose her over someone more attractive, he explains pretty girls seemed vacuous in comparison to Chaya, who has the depth of character of someone who’s endured cataclysmic misfortune.
The acting is uniformly strong; the music is played and sung with precision and verve. Caplan is a particularly adept vocalist, easily shifting from cavernous bass to falsetto notes, singing with passion and admirable technical skill.
Given Ukraine refugees, the story is especially timely… and it inspires hope (Chaya and Chaim ultimately thrive in Canada).
The show is enjoying “you-gotta-see-this” buzz on local social media. I’m not surprised. This is smart, big-hearted theatre performed with chutzpah and verve. Well worth seeing, Old Stock: A Refugee Love Story continues at the Belfry to May 14.
