Ensemble’s ‘The North Pool’ offers interesting, not intriguing bait and switch Bob Abelman Cleveland Jewish News, The News Herald, The Morning Journal Member, International Association of Theatre Critics As has been noted in these pages on a number of occasions, playwright Rajiv Joseph has a remarkable proclivity for examining big-ticket issues by way of small-scale stories. In his “Mr. Wolf,” the infinite possibilities of the universe are explored by way of a parent whose child has been abducted by an astronomer and the infinitesimal odds of finding her alive. In his 2010 Pulitzer Prize-nominated drama “Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo,” Man’s inhumanity to Man is examined through a running narrative supplied by a tiger trapped in a cage that is surrounded by the Gulf war. And in his one-act “The North Pool,” which premiered Off-Off Broadway in 2013 and is currently on stage at Ensemble Theatre, Joseph breaks down the nature of ethnic, racial and religious prejudice by placing two people – a public high school vice principal and a transfer student – in a room. While the small confines of the vice principal’s office (realistically rendered by set designer Walter Boswell) makes for an intense evening of theater, it can also be argued that Joseph has set his sights so small as to keep this interesting play from becoming particularly intriguing. For more of this article, go to www.clevelandjewishnews.com/columnists/.