Review: OUR CLASS at Z Space
OUR CLASS at Z Space captures the haunting realities of friendship and betrayal.
There are many types of great theatre- light, cheerful, romantic, uplifting, silly, classic. Z Spaces’ co-production of Tadeusz Slobodzianek’s Our Class is unflinchingly dark, emotionally devastating and a tough watch – but it is great theatre, a timely cautionary tale of evil startingly conceived and executed.
Our Class, produced by ARLEKIN!, the immigrant theater company founded by Ukrainian-born, Jewish director Igor Golyak, swept the 2025 Lucille Lortel Awards with four wins, including Outstanding Revival and Outstanding Director. It follows ten classmates — five Jewish and five Catholic Poles who grow up as friends playing soccer and dating and morph into enemies and murderers. Inspired by the true story of a 1941 pogrom in a small Polish village, we witness in vivid realism the evil that lies beneath us all and how easily we can turn against those we love by external pressures.
On a bare stage in the cavernous Steindler Stage, the play opens as a table reading, establishing the characters as they voice their potential dream jobs. The construct is a series of lessons, vignettes detailing the group’s initial camaraderie escalating to betrayals, rampant antisemitism, and a massacre of devastating proportions. Spanning eight decades, Slobodzianek’s script follows the surviving characters to old age and death, lives marred by the guilt and responsibility of their actions.
The international cast of ten actors have the unenviable task of representing the worst of our traits. What starts out as mere jealousy and envy between the Catholics and Jews, turns to collusion with the Soviets, betrayal of friendships, and the eradication of an entire community. From singing childhood songs (the Yiddish love song “Tumbalalaika”), to a mock wedding between the Pole Rysiek (José Espinosa) and a Jew (Dora played by Gus Birney), to ugly and disturbing scenes of rape and violence, Our Class puts it all out there without judgements, allowing the events to wash over the audience like the cold water showers used to torture some characters.
Igor Golyak’s direction is extraordinary. In addition to corralling and drawing out authentic and heartfelt performances by the talented cast, the staging is wildly exciting. The back wall is a giant chalkboard on which the actors scribble notes and images, designed by Jan Pappelbaum. Giant ladders are employed and characters appear on top of the wall. The rape scene in intimated by slapping the women’s thigh, the violation pounding away is tough material. The perpetrators of the massacre draw faces on white balloons representing the victims, which are then set free to pop when hitting the stage’s ceiling. Brilliant visuals including projections by Eric Dunlap and Igor Golyak move the piece as emotionally as the dialogue.
Director Golyak sums up the play succinctly: “Antisemitism is a light sleeper. It dozes beneath the surface until difficult events wake it. One day people play soccer together. The next day, one half burns the other half alive. Evil does not have a geography. It does not have a race. It can live right beside us.” Sobering thoughts for our turbulent times. One of the class (Abram played by Richard Topol) moves to America early on, establishes himself and has a new life. The plays finale, at his wife’s funeral, is his acknowledgement of his family – children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren in abundance. A testament to resilience, circumstance, and hope for a future free of torment.
Our Class continues through April 5th. Tickets available at zspace.org/ourclass or by calling (415) 255-8207.
Photos credit: Olga Maturana, Pavel Antonov, Irina Danilova..
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