Aaron Davidman is a Jewish-American actor who identifies as a socio-political "progressive", and he drew upon the occurrences during the many trips that he'd personally taken to Israel over the years. Wrestling Jerusalem takes inspiration from his attempt to emotionally comprehend the multiple perspectives that he's encountered, many of them filled with anxiety and sorrow about traumatic experiences. The Israeli–Palestinian conflict weighs heavily on the contents of the drama. The one-person show features Davidman performing as a wide variety of individuals that vary in not just nationality but also age, occupation, religion, and other such classes, displaying highly contrasting viewpoints. The uncomfortable nature of Israeli security efforts, compared directly to features found in concentration camps, is explored as well as the horror of witnessing protesters yelling "Death to the Jews" in American anti-Zionist demonstrations. Life experiences between characters become blurred in several instances, such as when Davidman switches from performing a Jewish song in Hebrew to the saying of an Islamicprayer. In one particular moment, the performer takes the role of an Israeli doctor commenting on the various sufferings that the character has witnessed. The doctor displays a disinterest in weighing what particular group of people has endured more, remarking that "I do not compare levels of trauma". Davidman declares, "It is irrelevant. Trauma is trauma." The play had an 'Off Broadway' run in 2016. It was directed by Michael John Garcés, who had also overseen the drama's 2014 premier at the Intersection for the Arts complex in San Francisco, California. Its production team released a trailer for Wrestling Jerusalem on the video sharing website Vimeo.com that year as well, highlighting the play's lighting and use of music.
Reviews
Wrestling Jerusalem has received a mixed yet supportive review from Laura Collins-Hughes of The New York Times. She labelled the production a "smartly written solo show" that "trusts in the power of the human voice and the capacity of the human heart." While stating that the characterization becomes "intensely frustrating", with the individuals profiled needing "far more room to breathe than they're allowed", she cited how the drama "believes that listening to one another's stories can change the way we move through the world." The San Francisco Chronicle has published a laudatory review by Robert Hurwitt, who wrote:
