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Culture Theatre

House of Many Tongues

HOUSE OF MANY TONGUES by Jonathan Garfinkel, directed by Richard Rose (Tarragon). To June 3. $10-$38. 416-531-1827. See listing. Rating: NNN


Most people talk about the Middle East in the most serious tones. In House Of Many Tongues, playwright Jonathan Garfinkel attacks the Israeli-Palestinian question through laughs and magic realism.

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Jewish general Shimon (Howard Jerome) and Palestinian writer Abu Dalo (Hrant Alianak) each lays claim to a house (played by Fiona Highet) who wants a happy family within her walls. Trouble is, not only do the elders fight, but their kids, Shimon’s son Alex (Daniel Karasik) and Abu Dalo’s daughter Suha (Erin MacKinnon), are angry with them.

Each teen has a mission: Suha wants to bury her mother in the house Alex hopes to bring peace to the Middle East through regularly practised cunnilingus.

Garfinkel tackles subtle things here, such as how one creates both a personal and a national history and how to remember the past without sacrificing the possibility of the future.

Perhaps surprisingly, it’s the more serious sections of the play, directed by Richard Rose, that don’t work. Garfinkel makes his case best through comedy, especially in Karasik’s natural performance and the ironic arguments made by Alianak. There’s also comic interplay between the house and a commitment-phobic camel (Raoul Bhaneja). Niki Landau gives believability and a touch of subtlety to several supporting roles.

But Jerome blusters without getting into Shimon’s heart, and MacKinnon fails to grab our interest until the second act.

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