Reviews

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Jews. In Their Own Words. ★★★★

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Jews. In Their Own Words. ★★★★

Jonathan Freedland’s first venture into writing for the stage is billed in the programme not as a play but a ‘theatrical enquiry’: carefully chosen phrasing, to describe a brave undertaking by this seasoned journalist. It was actor Tracy-Ann Oberman (played here by Louisa Clein), billed as…

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Two Ukrainian Plays ★★★★

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Two Ukrainian Plays ★★★★

A dark, surreal tragicomedy and a stark, heartbreaking monologue in a double bill by two women playwrights digs deep into the human situation of individuals caught up in the conflict in Ukraine. What is immediately striking as you watch this hard-hitting pairing of dramas, actually…

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Kafka and Son ★★★★★

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Kafka and Son ★★★★★

Based on Franz Kafka’s famous Letter to His Father, award-winning Canadian director and producer Alon Nashman turns in a deeply moving and credible interpretation of the Czech writer's turbulent relationship with his father Hermann. The sparse set, featuring hundreds of black…

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Ivor Dembina: Old Jewish Jokes ★★★★

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Ivor Dembina: Old Jewish Jokes ★★★★

Thirty years ago I saw Ivor Dembina walk onto a stage in north London and announce to an unsuspecting crowd: “Right, let’s have the Hatikvah” (a 19th-century Jewish poem and Israel's national anthem). It was an early sign of the path he was looking to tread. One of my favourite…