Actor Amy Hack describes ‘epic role’
“I’m excited about being part of telling a Jewish story to a mainstream theatre audience,” says Amy Hack.
Two years ago, as part of the Kadimah’s 110th anniversary celebrations, a bold new interpretation of Nobel Prize winning author Isaac Bashevis Singer’s Yentl the Yeshiva Boy was staged at Arts Centre Melbourne to critical acclaim.
While still set in a Polish shtetl in 1870, the production of Yentl in Yiddish and English was a darker interpretation rooted in a world of demons, dybbuks and ghosts, and putting religion, sexuality and traditional Yiddish culture on a collision course. It was directed by Gary Abrahams, who teamed up with Elise Hearst and Galit Klas to write the script. Yentl won four categories at the 2023 Green Room Awards Melbourne’s annual awards for live performance for set design, lighting, writing and performance, where Jana Zvedeniuk was honoured for playing Yentl.
Now the Kadimah Yiddish Theatre is staging a return season of Yentl at the Malthouse’s Merlyn Theatre from February 29 to March 17 with a new actor in the title role – seasoned stage and film performer Amy Hack, who studied at Mount Scopus Memorial College but has spent the past 11 years living in Sydney.
“I’m excited about being part of telling a Jewish story to a mainstream theatre audience,” Hack told The AJN. “But it is greater than being just a Jewish story with the history of Judaism threaded through it.
“There’s a darkness within the traditions and then how to find your identity through your religion.”
Hack is thrilled to be part of a successful team – she is the only new member of the cast, joining original actors Evelyn Krape, Nicholas Jaquinot and Genevieve Kingsford. The production team led by Abrahams, who has directed shows including Bad Jews, The Ghetto Cabaret and 33 Variations, has also remained unchanged.
“I’m a different person with a different life experience to the previous Yentl,” Hack noted.
“With the return season there is an opportunity to fine-tune aspects of the production and to investigate fresh moments, even in a production that was so successful.”
Yentl is the story of a young woman who defies Orthodox tradition by secretly studying religious scripture. When her father dies, Yentl runs away, determined to live as a man and continue her studies. She meets yeshivah boy Avigdor, who believing her to be male takes her under his wing as Talmudic student Anshl (also played by Hack). When Avigdor introduces Anshl to Hodes, the woman he loves, Anshl’s life takes a surprising turn and a love trian- gle emerges. Hack admits that the character of Yentl is a complex one.
“Yentl is learning so much about herself and her journey sees her face many challenges,” said Hack. “It is an epic role that is really pushing me as an actor.”
After graduating from Mount Scopus in 2008 Hack studied at Melbourne University before moving to Sydney in 2013 to study at Actors Centre Australia. Her film career includes The Secrets She Keeps (2020), After the Verdict (2022) and Ten Pound Poms (2023), while her theatre credits include Young Frankenstein (2021), Girl Band (2023) and a five month Australian tour last year with Bell Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.
Yentl is at the Malthouse’s Merlyn Theatre from February 29 to March 17. Bookings: malthousetheatre.com.au
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