Dough Review
By David Kempler
Play Dough
What happens when you throw together an older orthodox Jewish man and a young Muslim boy? In the case of "Dough", John Goldschmidt has created a light-hearted and poignant piece that gets by on sweetness, good feelings, and drug humor.
Nat (Jonathan Pryce) owns a Jewish bakery that has been in his family for generations. The bakery has been slowly losing business for quite some time and everyone in his family wants him to sell the bakery and retire. His son is a successful lawyer and has no interest in taking over for him. Making it even tougher on Nat is the guy next door who recently opened a supermarket. Of course, the supermarket owner is particularly nasty about it, so we have someone to root against. The battle lines have been drawn.
Nat has one employee and he gets along very well with him, but that falls apart when he leaves for more pay with the evil supermarket owner. He's a nice guy, but the offer of a raise is tough to resist. This defection leaves Nat scrambling for help. Without it, he won't be able to make the business survive. Enter the middle-aged Muslim cleaning woman who cleans up the bakery. She suggests that her son, Ayvash (Jerome Holder), might be able to work for Nat. In total desperation, Nat hires Ayvash.
The set-up for the action is complete. An older Jew and a young Muslim man have been thrown together and we know that there will be the inevitable clash in the near future. The cultural, religious, and age differences give John Goldschmidt a plethora of directions to go and he uses all of them well. He handles it by keeping it mostly lightly amusing, with a few dramatic moments tossed into the mix.
Business begins to boom, much to the surprise of Nat and everyone else, especially the supermarket owner, who knows that it will be tougher to drive Nat out and acquire the store for his dreams of expansion. The reason sales are off the chart in the bakery is that Ayvash is baking pot into their products. Lines are out the door with druggies and religious Jews.
The conflict hits its apex when the owner of the supermarket begins to suspect that something odd is going on and he is determined to get to the bottom of it. What follows is a little bit of tension, but mostly cutesy interactions between Nat and Ayvash as they try to keep going with their flourishing business. "Dough" never rises to Michelin award levels, but it's still a tasty dessert.
