The Performances
Etgar Keret is 36 and is often described as Israel’s hippest young writer. His short story collections have sold over 100,000 copies and he has won awards for his film Skin Deep. Over 40 films have been based on his short stories; one received the 1998 MTV Prize for best animated film. A lecturer at Tel Aviv University’s Department of Film, Etgar writes comedy for Israeli TV, contributes to several comic books and has published numerous articles on social and political topics. Well-known in Keret’s homeland and translated in this country for the first time, The Bus Driver Who Wanted To Be God & Other Stories spotlights Etgar’s razor-sharp voice and sarcastic wit. Audiences will be intrigued by the tales created by an imagination that can rethink cultural myths and paint unique landscapes for characters to occupy. Keret’s mastery of surprise endings is clear in Plague of the Firstborn, with its retelling of the Biblical Egyptian plague story from an Egyptian’s point of view. His ability to take familiar ideas and turn them upside down is deftly demonstrated in A Souvenir of Hell, in which the nether world is envisioned as a place from which the damned can take an occasional vacation. Among the other stories scheduled to be read are Pipes, Breaking The Pig and Jetlag as well as the title story, The Bus Driver Who Wanted To Be God.
Readers for this evening of Keret’s short stories include Richard Cattabiani, Laura Love-Kroll and Jack Kroll.
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