Israeli actor, writer and director Ofra Daniel brings her daring, passionate musical play based on a Biblical poem to London for its European premiere…
Despite superb acting and Patrick Marber’s nimble direction, Marius von Mayenburg’s unsettling drama about the legacy of the Holocaust proves problematic…
There is something extraordinarily powerful about simple storytelling. Although Samantha Spiro, the narrator of this story is actually addressing a packed theatre, it felt like she spoke directly to me as she began ‘Once upon a time…’. The tale she tells is not a fairy story, although…
Despite a long history of living in relative peace with their neighbours, I have to admit that my first recollections of hearing about the Jews of Baghdad was when I read about the shocking fate of nine of them, hanged in public, along with three Muslims and two Christians, all accused…
For those who have lived in a bedsit, Michael Hastings’ semi-autobiographical drama will bring back memories. The late Jewish playwright was only 18 when the play premiered in 1956, so it is perhaps his identification with his troubled 15-year-old hero Sammy that makes the boy's tense…
If ever there was a drama that delivered what it says on the tin, this is it. Rock ’n’ Roll suffuses the action and not just as background musical motif. The Tom Stoppard show premiered in 2006 at London’s Royal Court Theatre, predating his award-winning 2020 Leopoldstadt, which…
When Japan famously featured in Puccini’s opera Madam Butterfly in 1904, the Treaty of Kanagawa – which opened up Japan to the West – was 50 years in the past. Fast forward to 1976 and the events took centre stage once again in Stephen Sondheim’s musical Pacific Overtures. The…
Panto has long been a staple of the Christmas season, but what of Hanukkah? JW3 has just the ticket! The north London Jewish cultural centre has not only put on a cracker of a show (running until early January, including…