The Disputation

The Disputation

By Deryl Davis

Ah, those subjects you were never supposed to talk about at the dinner table—religion and politics! Well, they’re the main dish in Theater J’s stirring and thought-provoking production of Hyam Maccoby’s The Disputation. A historical drama based on a thirteenth century theological debate between a renowned Jewish rabbi and a Christian theologian, The Disputation raises questions about religious proselytizing, freedom of speech, and interfaith relations which are as volatile today as they were 700 years ago, when the Inquisition held sway in Europe and the populace lived in a state of virtual mental lock-down. Utilizing the convention of the courtroom drama, Maccoby takes us through the rather abstruse theological arguments about the messiah and divinity offered by each side in the debate, but at its heart, The Disputation is less about interfaith competition than the battle between religious dogmatism on the one hand and free inquiry on the other. In the hands of director Nick Olcott and a fine cast headed by Broadway legend Theodore Bikel, The Disputation is a taut, complex drama about the necessity of toleration in matters political and spiritual. Clearly, it’s a lesson we’re still learning.

That’s certainly the case at the Christian court of Aragon in 1263, where openminded, if dissolute, King James (John Lescault) has been showing too much favor to the Jewish minority in his kingdom. Now, he’s under pressure to tow the Vatican party line by holding a disputation, or debate, proving Christianity’s superiority. It’s meant to be another tool for converting the Jews from the error of their ways. However, there’s a snag: James wants the debate to be fair and open, allowing the famed Jewish disputant, Rabbi Moses ben Nachman, the freedom to say whatever he wants about Christianity in defense of his own faith. So far, so good for Rabbi Moses, except that the wise old scholar knows there are dangers inherent in winning as well as losing the debate. To lose is to undermine his people’s confidence in their own faith; to win is to invite the possibility of violent reprisals from the Christian majority. Rabbi Moses stands on the knife edge, risking his own safety in order to speak the truth as he sees it, which includes the right to question faith—even his own.

As the wise and irascible Rabbi Moses, Bikel (renowned for his Broadway portrayals of Tevye in Fiddler on the Roof and Captain von Trapp in The Sound of Music) is the stage’s dominant presence. Now in his 80s, Bikel moves with the strength and authority one would expect from a man who opposed the Inquisition and made his name as a sage and scholar. He’s a beacon of reason and integrity in a sea of dogma and superstition. And while he doesn’t accept the Christian theology, he doesn’t pretend that Judaism has it all wrapped up, either. One of the play’s most delightful exchanges comes when Rabbi Moses is asked about the “essential principles” of the Jewish faith. “That is a matter of dispute,” he replies, and you imagine a twinkle in Bikel’s eyes. His rabbi is humane, tolerant, and above all, a man who calls things as he sees them.

Rabbi Moses’ adversary, the Jew-turned-Christian friar Pablo Christiani, is a man of reason, as well—to an extent. He’s joined the Christian side, in part, because it’s winning, and it stands to reason that God is on the victor’s side. As played by Shakespeare Theatre Company veteran Edward Gero, Christiani is the play’s most complex and fascinating character, a man driven by doubt and perhaps self-loathing who turns to the rigid confines of dogma for assurance. Gero invests Christiani with a rich ambiguity, making him a figure both sympathetic and at times alarming. In one of the play’s most poignant scenes, Christiani offers Rabbi Moses an insight into his own conversion. “I need a religion . . . that regards life itself as a crisis,” Christiani admits shortly after relating the deaths of his parents at the hands of Christians. Moments later, however, he’s raging at Moses for not persuading the Jews to convert. Christiani is, indeed, a tortured soul, and Gero seems to capture that in his sensitive portrayal.

The rest of The Disputation cast brings similar strengths to smaller roles. Shakespeare Theatre Company veteran Andrew Long is especially memorable as the noble Raymond de Penaforte, a Dominican leader who is genuinely concerned for the safety of the Jews as well as the stability of James’ throne.

One of the production’s most compelling visual moments comes when, just before the disputation begins, Penaforte and Rabbi Moses stand in isolated beams of light, the one crossing himself, the other wrapped in a prayer shawl singing, both preparing for the spiritual storm to come. Like Moses, Penaforte is all the more compelling because he must walk a ne line between political reality and the dictates of conscience.

But The Disputation isn’t all heavy. John Lescault adds a measure of leavening as King James, a self-confessed “whoremonger” whose very public desire for his mistress Consuelo (an enticing Tymberlee Chanel) comically competes with matters of state. Nevertheless, Lescault reveals James to be a deeply humane figure beneath his sometimes clownish exterior, risking the security of his throne to protect freedom of speech. James is also a man deeply interested in what Rabbi Moses has to say. Although the monarch’s final line (the final line of the play) is uttered with a good deal of humor—”I should have been a king before Jesus came,” in reference to the practice of taking concubines—it also can be understood as James’ confession of belief in the theological and moral vision of Rabbi Moses. Were he alive today, James would no doubt be sampling a smorgasbord of religious traditions in search of the most tolerant and inclusive among them.

Much can be made of Nick Olcott’s creative direction of a script which occasionally reads like a history paper, introducing arcane arguments and longforgotten eminences. In fact, The Disputation began life as a book about the Barcelona Disputation by the late Jewish religion scholar Hyam Maccoby. The resulting script does embody the important religious and moral tensions of the debate, but Olcott has done a superb job in making it come to life on the stage. From the opening moment, when a courtier in spotlight reads a decree of punishment (requiring that the offender’s tongue be cut out), to the play’s ending, when James asks the soon-to-be-exiled Rabbi Moses for his blessing, Olcott keeps the action taut and the movement frequent. Skillful use of light and shadow, as well as an appealing sound design (including chimes, an audience track, and evocative music), enhance the dramatic tension and mood of urgency. A handsome set design by Daniel Ettinger featuring Moorish architecture, flagstones, and pillars rounds out the visual experience.

The Disputation is the dramatic record of “a fleeting moment of true contact” (to quote Rabbi Moses) when the people of two oft-opposed faiths and cultures really listened to one another. It would merit seeing for nothing else but the lesson it offers our world today. Happily, this fine production promises a great deal more than that.