God of Vengeance
God of Vengeance
Embedded Files
“I’ll be damned if this play is going to disappear. One of the things I said when I started the research and writing of it was I wanted my play, ‘Indecent,’ to be product placement for Sholem Asch’s ‘God of Vengeance.’”
~ Paula Vogel
The Original Play
The Original Play
Edited portions of God of Vengeance are performed in Indecent - but there is so much more depth to Asch's 1906 play that can only be experienced by reading it. If you're intrigued, check out the original script for a far more complex exploration of the themes and characters, and the rain scene in its beautiful full context.
Fact vs. Fiction
Fact vs. Fiction
Although Indecent is based on extensive research and a deep respect for Asch's original work, there are creative liberties taken for the sake of the story. A few examples:
God of Vengeance was Asch's third play, not his first.
The Broadway production was shut down not on opening night but about two weeks into the run.
Asch's investigative trip for the American Jewish Joint Commitee (of which he was a founder) occurred in 1919, earlier than implied by the script. The "nervous exhaustion" diagnosis is also speculative.
Some characters - such as Lemml, Reina and Dine, and John Rosen - are invented. (An impressive number are based on real people, though - including Ruldoph Schildkraut, Harry Weinberger, Rabbi Joseph Silverman, Morris Carnovsky, and Virginia McFadden.)
Production History IRL: A Timeline
Production History IRL: A Timeline
1900 19-year-old Sholem Asch moves to Warsaw and joins a circle of Yiddish writers led by I.L Peretz. He publishes his first Yiddish short story, "Moyshele."
1906 Asch writes The God of Vengeance.
March 19th, 1907 The first production premieres in Berlin.
1907 onward Subsequent performances occur all over Europe (including the locations shown in Indecent), translated into Russian, Polish, Italian, French, Swedish, and more. The play is also first performed in the U.S., in Yiddish, in 1907.
1918 An English version of the script is published, translated by Issac Goldberg.
1922 The first U.S. English-language production opens at the Provincetown Theatre in Greenwich Village.
February 19th, 1923 The Broadway production (with an edited script) opens at the Apollo Theatre.
March 6, 1923 The cast and producer are charged with obscenity.
May 24, 1923 Trial and conviction.
1923-1946 Despite the shutdown of the English-language production, God of Vengeance continues to be performed in the U.S. in Yiddish, and in other countries.
1946 In response to a planned Spanish production in Mexico City, Asch prohibits further performances of God of Vengeance (anywhere and in any language), explaining only that "the situation described in the play is dated."
Further Reading: Read Asch's letter to the court and statements from supporters (including Eugene O'Neill), or see primary source documents in Yale's Sholem Asch Papers collection
Production photo from the Deutsches Theater, Berlin, 1907
Part of a playbill from the Greenwich Village Theatre, New York, 1923
Marketing illustration of Schildkraut as Yekel for the Broadway production, 1923.
The cast at their trial, 1923
Poster for a Yiddish production by the WPA Federal Theatre Project, 1930s
About The Playwright
About The Playwright
Sholem Asch was a Jewish playwright from Kuto, Poland, who lived from 1880 to 1957. He initially wrote in Hebrew but switched to Yiddish early in his career (influenced by mentor I.L. Peretz, and part of a movement to legitimize Yiddish as a literary medium). Known for using rich language and imagery to tell stories from Jewish life, Asch was extremely popular (though more than once controversial) during his lifetime. He wrote multiple plays, poetry, and short stories, and is most remembered for novels like Motke The Thief and Der Tilim-Yid.
Further Reading: Learn more about Sholem Asch and Yiddish Literature
Sholem Ash, 1940
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