The Age and The Stage

Habima Theater

A comedy named  "What are we gonna do about Jenny"(originally an american play) is being performed at our national theater Habima .The protagonists are two veteran, esteemed actresses: Devora Keidar and Lya Koenig.

the ad of the play 

It so happened that I saw one of the two leading actresses walking on the street, and a week  after, I watched the other one on a TV interview show, called 'Intimate'.

Devora Keidar is 92 years old. Without the make up, her face shows her age. However, her gait is that of a young woman. She came out of a building , carrying her personal leather purse. I watched her walk and cross the street ;she did that with grace and easiness.

At 92 one doesn't usually care much about wrinkles; one does care about mobility and  cognitive functioning. It seems she's got them both in very good condition. In the play she performs the part of Jenny, a fresh widow  of 75 who insists on celebrating life with a lover, champagne, musicians... to the despair of her family and friends who want her to behave appropriately to her age.

Lya Koenig , Devora's collegue and friend, is younger, only 87; a very talented, active, and charismatic actress (she's Jenny's sister -in-law in the play).

The host on the TV  'Intimate' show asked her about the reason for her not having children. In reply, she invoked the usual: career, touring the world, the post -world war2 mentality of not bringing children in this gloomy world etc..

She then opened up and mentioned an episode in the hospital. Her late husband, in bed with cancer, was looking at some kids that were visiting a patient in the bed next to his. 'You know' , he said to her, 'Perhaps we've made a mistake. Who's going to make you a cup of tea when I'm gone?'

By the way,  the oldest actor in the world active on stage (according to Guiness in 2013), the romanian Radu Beligan, died in July. He was 97 and he had appeared successfully on stage until April 2016!