The Ally | 2hrs 40mins. One intermission. | Public Theater | 440 Lafayette Street | 212-967-7555
Asaf Sternheim (Josh Radnor) may be a teacher at the unnamed university that is the setting of Itamar Moses’ The Ally, but he’s the one getting lectured. Whether it’s a lacerating diatribe from a Judaica scholar before intermission, or an anguished screed by a Palestinian-born student after it, Asaf spends much stage time holding his tongue in figurative sackcloth as centuries of Middle East grievance are poured, like ashes, over his head. Asaf’s a playwright, so maybe the guy’s taking notes for his next piece.
The Ally is a campus drama (flecked with comedy) about the gap between easy performative virtue and unsolvable moral dilemmas, such as structural racism in America or peace between Israel and the Palestinian people. The two issues—#BlackLivesMatter and #FreePalestine—become linked when Asaf agrees to sign a petition circulated by one of his writing students (Elijah Jones), whose cousin was shot and killed by campus police who believed he was stealing a car. Asaf balks at a section of the........