About the work
“Amsterdam” is a play by Israeli playwright Maya Arad Yasur, written in Hebrew (original title אמסטרדם). It premiered in July 2018 at the Haifa Theatre, directed by Mor Frank. The German translation is by Matthias Naumann; the German-language premiere, directed by Sapir Heller, opened on 27 January 2019 at the Münchner Volkstheater.
Plot
A pregnant Israeli violinist living in Amsterdam finds an unpaid gas bill dated 1944 under her door one morning. Her attempts to trace where the bill comes from lead her back to the city's years under German occupation and the persecution of its Jews, and confront her with questions of origin, foreignness and guilt. There are no fixed roles: several voices tell the story, interrupt one another and offer conflicting versions, so that the search turns into a reflection on how the past is narrated.
Cultural significance
At the Stückemarkt of the Berlin Theatertreffen in 2018, Arad Yasur received the commission award for “Amsterdam”, which resulted in her play “Bomb” for Schauspiel Köln. In 2019 the play had its UK premiere in Eran Edry's English translation at the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond, directed by Matthew Xia; published editions have appeared in English, French and Italian, among other languages.