UKJFF 2023: Queen of the Deuce ★★★★

UKJFF 2023: Queen of the Deuce ★★★★

When someone speaks of the American Dream, the image is usually of a well-to-do white-collared individual returning to their picket-fenced home where a doting spouse tends to two pristine children. Not, heaven forbid, a chain-smoking elderly Greek Jewish immigrant holding court with…

Urgent Voices: Jacqueline Saphra

Urgent Voices: Jacqueline Saphra

I am a poet, not a politician. I am an activist, not a strategist. Yet here I am, feeling the need to write this piece as a way getting to grips with an impossible problem. A couple of years ago I was lucky enough to take part in a reading as part of the Tsitsit Jewish Fringe Festival. Poet…

Bess: The Other Houdini ★★★★

Bess: The Other Houdini ★★★★

Escapologist Harry Houdini was a legend in his own lifetime. His headline-grabbing stunts, involving mystifying, often lurid escapes from chains, padlocks, water tanks and suspension from skyscrapers, ensured that his reputation would live on long after his death. He boasted that he…

Antisemitism: a (((musical))) ★★★★

Antisemitism: a (((musical))) ★★★★

In light of the current tension in the Middle East and an increase in antisemitic activity around the world, it would seem there's little to laugh about right now. Cue the musical with idiosyncratic punctuation in its title, a UK debut from Israeli playwright and composer Uri Agnon that's not…