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Three Ring Circus

nytheatre.com review by David Reinwald
August 15, 2005

Daniel Thau-Eleff is a neurotic Jew. He would not take offense to that statement—he even says it himself in his one-man biographical show, Three Ring Circus. Thau-Eleff has a lot in common with Woody Allen. Like Woody, he is clearly very opinionated, very forthright, and not afraid to do things in his own manner. Thau-Eleff’s hour long performance is like a long-winded conversation comprised of three “rings”—the Jewish religion, Middle East activism related to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, and girls. Though, at the Thau-Eleff circus, it is the second of these rings that becomes the Main Event. As an activist, Thau-Eleff has a lot to say and he is very well-educated on the issues with which he is engaged. Thus, there are many moments in his performance connected to this theme that work very well. Most of these occur ironically when he steps out of his own shoes and takes on the personalities of the many individuals with whom he has come face to face. He assumes the identities of Israelis, some of whom yearn for a recognition of Israel’s plight, while others, as “refuseniks,” have stepped away from mandatory military service out of a refusal to dirty their hands in the political melee. It was in these moments that I was able to see through Thau-Eleff’s eyes without any additional deliberation. However, there are many places in the performance that feel more like a rant, and it was more difficult for me to become engaged in what seemed to be an utter explosion of his thoughts. It was at times like these that I wondered, who are we as this audience? Are we here to watch a show or are we supposed to be playing the role of the silent therapist? I wish we somehow could help to piece together Thau-Eleff’s outbursts. I have not given much attention to the other two “rings,” and similarly, these are not given as much weight in the focus of the play. However, Thau-Eleff declares that these other elements are essential, including what he calls “the fiction of his love life.” Yet there is a lack of detail to support such a conclusion, and I was left wondering what specifically connected his love life to his activism and his Jewish identity.Three Ring Circus also includes a couple of asides, in which the actor takes on the vicious role of a suicide bomber and, later, takes a comic dive at Yasser Arafat. The first of these is particularly ineffective, because its purpose in the show is entirely unexplained. I think there is potential in Thau-Eleff’s work, especially if he draws on the strengths aforementioned. The direction by Chris Gerrard-Pinker, however, needs some work. Too often, the actor is pacing frantically from side-to-side or in circles on the stage, standing in the shadows, or facing the back of the stage. There are also many uncomfortable pauses throughout. There needs to be more motivation in the physical movement and verbal expression of the performance—a solid grounding to support the important messages that Thau-Eleff wants to deliver.