‘Shtisel’ actress ‘didn’t want to make Haredim look good’

For the secular Israeli actress who plays Giti in the Netflix series, the role was both an artistic and a political challenge.

Neta Riskin’s agent tried repeatedly to get her to read the script for Shtisel. But as soon as she learned the Netflix drama told the story of an ultra-Orthodox family, Riskin didn’t want a bar of it.

A secular Israeli deeply opposed to the impositions of the ultra-Orthodox on Israeli society, Riskin had no interest in being part of a drama exploring the challenges of life in a Haredi family.

“Why would I want to make them look good?” she asked her agent.

 The fact that the show was to be shot in summer heightened her resistance. “Do you think I’m going to wear those wigs and stockings and heavy clothes in the middle of an Israeli summer? No way,” she said.

But when she was finally persuaded to read the script Riskin, who plays Giti in the hit show, was hooked.

“From the first moment I read it I knew this was definitely a thing I wanted to do. It’s not just about Haredim. It’s about relationships and home and restraining one’s desires. The culture of restraint makes those things more artistically interesting. It is a show that is based entirely on subtext, and this is a rare thing today.”

 Shtisel has been remarkably successful, winning awards in every possible category at the Israeli Television Academy Awards and garnering international critical acclaim.

There is ample evidence that Haredim, who don’t have televisions, secretly watch it on their phones. One of its original melodies even turned up at a recent Haredi wedding.

The show’s creators had no expectation of such success. When things went wrong on set, the director assured Riskin, “Don’t worry, nobody is going to watch it.”

The line became a catchphrase during filming — the cast even had t-shirts made with it — but it turned out to be way off the mark.

“Having Shtisel become an international hit is insane because it has no dead body, no sex, no violence, nothing that will appeal to the audience to watch it. We were told by the PR of the channel that the show was aired on that they couldn’t promote it because there was nothing to work with,” she said.

The political challenge of the show for Rivlin was matched by artistic challenge. She found learning how to be Giti was a very difficult assignment, because the way a Haredi woman moves, sits or speaks is so different from what is accepted in secular society.

“I had a coach and I remember I came to her very studiously with a notebook and said, ‘What should I believe in?’ and she said, ‘It’s not about belief, it’s about how you behave.’ She made me walk up and down the street and then she said, ‘We have a lot of work to do’. I asked her, ‘What’s wrong with my walk?’ and she said, ‘You exist too much. You have to minimise yourself.’”

Riskin said the inability to speak openly or touch one another charged ordinary situations with greater tension and forced the show to be more creative. For example, when Giti gave birth, the directors wanted to show Lippe’s love for her. In another show, the husband might have kissed or stroked his wife but that option is not available in a Haredi setting. In a moving scene, Lippe sings to Giti through the phone outside the labour suite, a beautiful moment that only occurred because more familiar forms of intimacy could not be used.

Similarly, issues that would be “talked out” in a secular marriage are supressed in ultra-Orthodox relationships, creating increased tension.

Not all the originality of Shtisel comes from its Haredi context. Riskin was also attracted by the way it moves away from the traditional narrative of the male adventurer to focus on the woman left behind.

“Storytelling really starts with The Odyssey, about the man who travels the world, goes on adventures, fights wars, has love affairs with mythological nymphs and then has a very big homecoming story. This way of storytelling has existed for thousands of years.

“In the past 20 years, they have sometimes made the women the adventurers but in Shtisel it is flipped. It’s not about the one who goes on the adventures but the one who is left behind. We only know pieces of Lippe’s story because his story is not the important one. The focus is on the story of the one who is waiting. I had never seen that before.”

The reversal of the typical narrative focus created a much more interesting character for Riskin to play.

“Giti seems weak but she is actually very strong and powerful in the relationship,” she said.

She has clearly developed respect and empathy for the woman she didn’t want to make look good. So did learning to inhabit the life of a Haredi woman change her attitude to the ultra-Orthodox in Israel?

“Personally yes, politically no,” said Riskin, quickly.