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The Ballad of the Cosmo Café ★★★★

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The Ballad of the Cosmo Café ★★★★

Stepping inside Director/Scenographer Pamela Howard’s bustling evocation of the much-loved meeting place that was the Cosmo Café, notably for Jewish refugees from Nazi Europe, is to be instantly swept up in its vibrant life. Even before the show begins, Santiago del Fosco’s head waiter…

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Pray, love, remember

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Pray, love, remember

I hope readers will forgive me for subverting the words Ophelia speaks in her strangely lucid madness in Hamlet, for they are not all exhortations. But for me, "pray, love, remember" sums up this month’s season of shared remembrance and special anniversaries. As well as the…

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The Operative ★★

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The Operative ★★

The last decade has seen a number of Israeli serial TV dramas that have enjoyed great international acclaim. Among these are several well-made and gripping spy stories, which have been particularly successful among both viewers and critics. Homeland, Mossad 101, and False Flag…

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The Cosmo comes to life again

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The Cosmo comes to life again

“I loved The Cosmo, which I got to know in the mid-50s. This was the time when not much English could be heard in Finchley Road, and the bus conductor would call out “Jerusalem” or ‘Vienna”! The German accent in the streets was predominantly Austrian, as was the conversation in…