‘Yiddish’ Explores Women’s Travails

Carole Braverman’s “The Yiddish Trojan Women,” at Theatre 40, isn’t a rehash of the ancient Greek tragedy, but an exploration of the theme of women attempting to survive the various brutal forces that devastate their lives and push them into betrayals.

Director Elinor Renfield doesn’t place any judgment calls and thus enriches the intricacies of this production. Her women are living their lives according to their own truths. Two sisters--low-rent stand-up comedian Brenda (Rachel Davies) and passionate labor union organizer Abigail (Jennifer Parsons)--and their cousin, frumpy mythology teacher Tess (Carlyle King), meet at the Brooklyn apartment of their grandmother Devorah (Dorothy James) as she prepares for her fourth marriage.

Devorah is troubled by a secret so deeply hidden in her mind that only when senility drives her back to her past can she reveal it. Tess finds the resemblance of love with a working-class married man (Kenna James) who has “no capacity at all for abstract thought,” and forgets her promise to Abigail, who is off fighting exploitative American capitalism in the jungles of Guatemala. Brenda, a “bottomless chasm of self-interest,” like Helen of Troy, uses people for her own pleasure and glory.

Although slow to start, the interaction of the four actors becomes captivating and distressing. Renfield doesn’t quite make us feel the layers of unspoken familiarity between the women, but does develop each as a compelling individual with real and painful desires. Although Davies is good as the ambitious Brenda, she is never really sympathetic, unlike King who is poignantly earnest as she reaches out to understand and love.

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* “The Yiddish Trojan Women,” Theatre 40, Beverly Hills High School campus, 241 Moreno Drive, Beverly Hills. Thursdays-Saturdays, 8 p.m.; Sundays, 2 p.m. Ends Oct. 19. $15-18. (818) 789-8499. Running time: 2 hours, 20 minutes.