After doing so on the small screen ("Asfur", "Wounded in the Head") and on the big screen ("Forgiveness", "Letter"), Hanan Savyon and Guy Amir arrive at the Repertory Theater.
The two wrote a comedy play called "Crazy About Her," which will be staged on May 20 at the Habima Theater, and they are also acting in it.
The play is inspired by a Spanish film of the same name, and it tells the story of Adar, who spends a wild night with a girl who disappears at the end of the party.
He searches for her and realizes that in order to meet her he must be hospitalized in a psychiatric institution, where she is staying.
The play is directed by Alon Ofir and stars, along with Amir and Savyon, also Meirav Shirom, Sapir Azulai, Ruby Porat-Shoval, Shir Abramov, Shiran Huberman, Rivka Gur and more.
"It's exciting," says Savyon, "we have been looking for the right thing for the theater for several years. For four years we have been in meetings with Moshe Kaftan (Habima's artistic director, MK) in search of an idea.
When the idea of 'crazy about her' came up - there was a quick click. "
Amir says that "the film is very cinematic, using everything that cinema knows how to do, like chases and big scenes. To make the film a show we said we need to focus on the people inside the institution, because you understand that behind these transparent people there is a story."
Savyon: "The film is a light and likable comedy, but we felt we could give it more value, focus on each of the characters hospitalized there. We looked for the story behind each character and added an Israeli background."
Is writing for film and television different from writing for theater?
Amir: "This is a different writing for the theater, but the creative process is the same. We meet every day, from 9:00 to 17:00, working on several projects at the same time. In the theater you have to solve problems like the fact that it is one space and one time."
Savyon: "In a play, every actor must have at least one moment that will make him feel worth participating in. Unlike cinema, where you can often bring actors for one day of photography, in a theater it is an ensemble, everyone has to have an emotional connection to this thing."
What characters do you play in the show?
Amir: "I play the character of Adar. A 37-year-old guy, a little seven from life in Tel Aviv, looking for a relationship, made an exit, lives a pretty comfortable life with his Tinder. One day he meets someone who excites him, whom he has never met."
Savyon: "I play Shaul, Adar's partner in a room in a psychiatric institution. He suffers from paranoia, trauma following his military service. Adar goes through a process in relation to him, a bit like the process the audience is supposed to go through. The reference to the different changes."
Amir: "It's important to emphasize that this is a comedy, that the audience laughs. The comedy tool is a very good tool to convey a message, to say something."
Savyon: "It's an important refinement. It's not that we turned the cinematic comedy into a drama. The audience will laugh, but not at the expense of emotion."
From rehearsals for "Crazy About Her", Photo: Yehoshua Yosef
The two, who have become a joint creative machine, simultaneously run their own stand-up show and edit a film and series they filmed overseas.
When asked if working in a duo is not difficult for them, they respond with disapproval.
"We do not understand why a person should work alone," says Amir, "when you work alone you may be able to work a little faster, but you lose. It's much more fun to celebrate good moments with someone else, and when you're bad - it's much easier to share With someone".
Savyon: "As creators, our work is always shared. As actors we got to do things separately and also get out. It's most fun for us to be cast together, as it was in the movie 'Perfect Strangers', but if tomorrow one of us wants a series - it will happen."
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