1: Painting, set design for "The Brief Travels of Benjamin III," 1927.

1: Painting, set design for "The Brief Travels of Benjamin III," 1927.

In 1927, the Moscow State Yiddish Theater performed a staged version of The Brief Travels of Benjamin III.

Suggested Activity: Have students look at the painting of the set design for this production. (For an enlargeable version of the image click here and scroll down.) What does this image tell you about how the producers understood Abramovitsh’s work? Consider the appearance of the buildings, the people depicted in this painting, the colors, and anything else that attracts your attention. Create your own set design for any scene in the novella.

Source: Set design by Robert Fal'k for Mendele Moykher-Sforim's Kitser masoes Binyomin hashlishi (The Brief Travels of Benjamin III), produced by Aleksandr Granovskii, Moscow State Yiddish Theater, 1927. Oil on canvas. (GDC 989. 313889; © Federal State Institution of Culture "A.A. Bakhrushin State Central Theatrical Museum," Moscow)