“‘The Dreyfus Affair’ and the Sound of Anxiety” is a NYT review of a new play on… The Dreyfus Affair.
The toxic mess of nationalism and anti-Semitism known as the Dreyfus Affair deeply divided France in the late 19th century, but any casual observer of the National Front’s far-right ideology will know that the scandal’s legacy continues to poison French society…
[Dreyfus’ family] battled not just the Army, which considered the Jewish captain a convenient scapegoat, but a virulently anti-Semitic press — David Bengali’s projections include chilling period caricatures and slogans like “France for the French” (still heard at National Front rallies).
A Broadway production about the salience of a late 19th century display of Gallic ‘anti-Semitism’.
I smell a hit! Or at least a decent run, with liberal Jews from across the Tri-state area in attendance.
And that ‘sound of anxiety’? That sound never leaves NYC.
