Death can bring out the best in people.
Or the worst .
In the case of “Bad Jews,” it’s the latter.
Arizona Onstage Productions opens the Joshua Harmon comedy this weekend. Prepare yourself: There is harsh language, greedy people and, we expect, big, hard laughs.
The setup: When a grandfather dies, two cousins fight over who will pocket the religious relic he left behind. These cousins, Daphna, who calls herself “a real Jew,” and Liam, who definitely doesn’t, are not gentle — or fair — fighters. They swear, they insult. They go straight for the jugular .
Why this play: Kevin Johnson, founder of Arizona Onstage and the director of this production, practically inhales scripts.
“I read probably five to eight scripts a week because that’s what I love to do,” he says. Last year, “Bad Jews” was one he inhaled with gusto.
“I loved the wit,” says Johnson.
“The playwright is a young writer, but he’s got the depth of an old-school playwright. The play is really well structured. It’s written in real time, so it’s one scene that continues, and all the action is built on the bones of an old-school dramatic structure — in tensions, actions, reactions and language.”
And no doubt Johnson was influenced by the reaction to the play, which premiered in 2012. From London, New York, Chicago and most other cities it has played, the reviews have raved about the script. The Chicago Tribune called it a “savagely fearless, hilarious comedy.” The New York Post called it “delicious, nasty fun.” London’s The Telegraph said it is “gritty, with a touchingly human heart.”
“I would call it a perceptive comedy with claws,” says Johnson.
What it’s saying: “I think it’s about faith and what faith means to us as a family and as a culture,” says Johnson.
“I think the playwright takes really, really serious culture issues, like what faith means, and treats it with a heartfelt, comedic side. It’s a biting side, but the play allows us to laugh at ourselves and our society. It helps us to think about what we are doing in a way that breaks down walls when we get dramatic about what we think is right and what is wrong.”
These are vicious folk, but …: Johnson owns up to the mean-mouthed characters, but he is convinced that is not an alienating issue.
“I think everybody can find themselves in at least one character,” he says. “I think everyone can relate to a situation where you are put together with relatives for a wedding or a funeral and they have nothing in common.”
I swear: “The show contains extreme profanity,” says Johnson. “I would give it an R rating for language. But it’s also an incredibly creative use of profanity.”
The language is a reflection of the characters’ ages, he adds.
“The oldest is 24, and the youngest is 18. It’s a vibrant group of kids who don’t know when to stop talking. There’s an honesty in the dialogue. As we get older, we chose not to say those kinds of things. But the characters are speaking from the heart.”
