In Our Boys, Tel Aviv native Adam Gabay stars as Avishay Elbaz, a troubled Yeshiva student suspected of taking part in the murder of a 16-year-old Palestinian boy. Lilly Gelman spoke with Gabay over Zoom about his methods of character development and what he learned from his time on the screen.
Since the Civil War, over 400 rabbis have offered prayers during the opening sessions of Congress. C-SPAN Communications Director Howard Mortman shares fascinating stories about some of these rabbis, the mixing of politics into prayers and how words of Torah are tied to the issues of the day.
Tall and blonde with a striking English accent, her height only slightly less discernible over video call, Seymour spoke to Editorial Fellow Lilly Gelman over Zoom from her apartment in Berlin. She explained how she felt a “heartfelt yearning” for the show since she herself was raised in a religious cult and thrown out at the age of 16. But while she felt an emotional connection to Esty and her story, Seymour’s personal life did not influence her design work, which, she says is based purely on observation and character development.
“It galls me when Mrs. America keeps underscoring the friction among feminists rather than grappling with the complexity of our challenges.”
When The Restaurant launched in Sweden in 2017, the website Drama Quarterly said that the series “is as brave, bold and ambitious as they come. A sprawling ensemble drama that opens in the aftermath of the Second World War and runs across two decades, it is an emotion-filled family saga that charts the fortunes of the owners and staff of Djurgårdskällaren, a high-end restaurant in the heart of Stockholm.” The show’s first season won the Kristallen Award for Best Swedish TV drama.
Simon and Burns thus expand the point of view of the series, taking us outside Philip’s home and into Evelyn and Alvin’s lives. In doing so, they fill out Roth’s characters, shaping them into vibrant and complex figures driven by clear motivations and desires. They strive to tell a more complete story of the Levin family, one that showcases Alvin and Evelyn as people in their own right, more than what Phillip sees.
