SCHNEIDER AND SCHUSTER (An Abridged History of the 20th Century)
By YEHOSHUA SOBOL
The Jewish Communities of Poland in the 1920 and 30’s, developed a comic-satirical theatre
that grew and flourished. There were comedy teams that presented humoristic duets using
dialogues, monologues, and songs. They were usually comprised of contrasting characters that
together completed a full personality. Optimism opposing pessimism, the arrogant intellectual
vs. the modest simpleton, the high strung and nervous against the phlegmatic apathetic, the
romantic vs. the cynic and many more congruous combinations.
Thanks to the flexibility of this genre, it was by nature a “Poor Theatre” that needed nearly no
production elements, aside from some props and costumes. Its strength derived itself almost
entirely from the high quality of the text and the great talents of its performers. These comedy
duos could perform in almost any space, be it on a theatre stage or in a coffee-shop, a cultural
hall or the room in someone’s home. These teams performed throughout Poland-in Lodz,
Bialystock and Warsaw. One of these teams Djigan and Schumacher, ended up in Israel,
performing as entertainers in the 1950 and 60’s.
The play “Schneider and Schuster” focuses on such a comedy team, that crossed the reckoning
20th century with only one weapon for defense- Jewish humor. With this they managed to deal
with the major monstrous events that were guided and ruled by ignorance; Mans’ condition in
this stormy century was the wondrous yet worst of any century.
Schneider and Schuster began their journey as youth growing up in the Jewish community of
Poland. In the 1920’s and 30’s they presented sketches with a naïve blindness to the tragedy
becoming more and more real,. The laughed at anti-Semitism, mocked Hitler, joked about
those who immigrated to Israel and got stuck toiling the land. They celebrated their youth,
living on wine and roses, ignoring the rising Nazi regime in Europe.
The war and German invasion fell upon them like thunder on a clear day. Only thanks to their
mad humor were they able, at the last minute, to escape from the clutches of the Gestapo,
crossing the border to Russia. Their they encountered the insanity of the followers of
communism. The war ended and they eventually arrived to Israel only to learn that it is
forbidden to present in the Yiddish language there. This causes a huge rift between them,
separating only to meet after many years in a cemetery.