Yentl wins at the Sydney Theatre Awards
Barber is a renowned set and costume designer, who has won five Green Room Awards for Outstanding Scenic and Costume design in Cabaret, Opera and Theatre.
The winners of the 2024 Sydney Theatre Awards were announced on Monday night, and Dann Barber won the award for Best Costume Design for an Independent Production for Yentl.
Barber is a renowned set and costume designer, who has won five Green Room Awards for Outstanding Scenic and Costume design in Cabaret, Opera and Theatre.
“It is so lovely to be recognised up in Sydney for our work on Yentl, for all of us who are part of it,” Barber told The AJN.
“The production means so much to the team, and certainly has a special place in my heart.
“It was a gift simply to get another go at staging it again at Malthouse last year let alone at the Opera House. For the work to be received this way by the Sydney theatre community means a lot. Hopefully it means that it can continue to have another life somewhere next, that the spirit of Yiddish theatre can continue to be celebrated in Australia.”
Photo: dannbarber.com
Yentl’s Sydney performance was produced by the Kadimah Yiddish Theatre, Monstrous Theatre, Neil Gooding Productions and Shalom.
Kadimah Yiddish Theatre’s co-chair Lin Bender stated to The AJN, “All of us at the Kadimah wish Dann and our uber talented creative team a heart mazel tov in garnering a total of six nominations in these Sydney Theatre Awards for: Best Independent Production, Gary Abrahams for Best Direction, Amy Hack for Best Performance in a Leading Role, Evelyn Krape for Best Performance in a Supporting Role, and Dann Barber for Best Stage Design and for Best Costume Design.
“Jewish Creativity shines. From Elsternwick to the Sydney Opera House, via sold-out seasons at Arts Centre Melbourne and Malthouse Theatre, Kadimah Yiddish Theatre’s Yentl has now been nominated for a total of 15 theatre awards winning five,” Bender said.
Yentl was performed at the Sydney Opera House last year after its run in Melbourne, where it won four Green Room Awards including for outstanding writing and performance. When Yentl opened in Melbourne in 2022, it was the first new adaptation since Barbra Streisand’s well-known 1983 musical film. The production was considered a bold contemporary adaptation that deals with gender identity and religious and sexual politics within Yiddish culture.
It is about a young woman’s determination to study religious texts, which was forbidden by Jewish Orthodox tradition at the time. When her father dies, Yentl dresses in male clothes to live as a man so that she can study Torah.
Evelyn Krape told The AJN that Yentl continues to be relevant today. “Women still fight in every way to be recognised and respected, treated as equals.”
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