In conversation: Avital Raz

"If we think of ourselves as victims all the time, how can we be aggressors? I wanted to show that we’re both”

In 2013, Jerusalem-born Avital Raz released The Edinburgh Surprise, a song about a one-night stand between an Israeli woman and a Palestinian man. Stemming from this and the controversy it caused, My Jerusalem is her own story. Raz takes the audience through moments of her upbringing in tumultuous 1980s Israel and presents her nuanced exploration of the politics of division, using live music, projected images and storytelling. Although the national tour of the show was cut short due to Covid, it has now been filmed before a live audience in Manchester and is available to stream until Saturday 7 August. The documentary, Your Jerusalem, in which she interviews Israelis, Palestinians and people in the UK about the issues raised in the show, is also available to stream.

JR’s Judi Herman has watched both films and The Edinburgh Surprise and spoke to Raz about her Jerusalem and the experiences that led her to make My Jerusalem, a show that Judi hails as “personal, heartfelt, controversial, hard hitting and beautiful”.

My Jerusalem and Your Jerusalem are available to stream via Applecart Arts until Saturday 7 August and Sunday 8 August, respectively.

Warning: This podcast contains references to child abuse, which forms a small part of the narrative in My Jerusalem and The Edinburgh Surprise contains explicit sexual content.

In conversation: The Matzoh Boys

"The beauty of the simcha dance is everyone feels it, no matter what age you are"

London-based simcha band The Matzoh Boys have created a “virtual simcha dance“, so people in the community can still enjoy a dance to their favourite simcha tunes at home during lockdown. JR’s Arts Editor Judi Herman found herself on her feet dancing as soon as she clicked on the link to their wonderfully life-affirming video. So she got in touch with vocalist Jonny (pictured centre) and trumpeter Jake (pictured fourth from right) to talk about the band, their music, how they made their video “in the safety of their homes” and how they were doing in lockdown.

Be part of the on-screen joy!
With the virtual simcha dance video, The Matzoh Boys wanted to recreate the joyous feeling people get while dancing to uplifting music, so they have a special request: they’re asking people to share videos of them dancing on social media using the hashtag #MatzohBoysVirtualSimcha.

This is the first in a short series of podcasts about life-affirming music to enjoy at this time. To find out more about The Matzoh Boys, visit matzohboys.com.

In conversation: Steve Waters

“By keeping it quite individualised and quite localised that helped me not to get lost in the geopolitics”

This week sees the start of Steve Waters’ Miriam & Youssef, a podcast and radio drama series for BBC World Service, charting the turbulent decades leading up to the founding of Israel. The playwright spoke to JR's Arts Editor Judi Herman about the ambitious project, which is told from the viewpoints of two former neighbours: Miriam, a Jewish refugee who emigrates to Palestine, and Youssef, a Palestinian Arab. Set between 1917 and the foundation of the state of Israel in 1948, their lives are intertwined with real historical characters and events. The series co-stars Shani Erez as Miriam and Amir el Masry as Youssef. Listeners may remember hearing Israeli actor Erez speaking to Judi last year, when she played Shylock as a proud widow and mother in the Royal Shakespeare Company’s hugely successful reimagining of The Merchant of Venice for schoolchildren.

At the heart of Waters' ambitious project is the city of Jerusalem, seen during the three decades of the British Mandate. The drama also features real-life figures, including David Ben-Gurion, the Grand Mufti of Jerusalem and American intellectual Rabbi Judah Magnes, whose lives intersect with the core fictional characters.

Episode one of Miriam & Youssef is available now on BBC World Service.

In conversation: Stephen Laughton

"I spoke to people who have been hospitalised in attacks that came from a place of hate"

Stephen Laughton’s play One Jewish Boy, which enjoyed a sold-out run at Islington’s Old Red Lion Theatre, has now transferred to London’s West End. Laughton discusses with JR Arts Editor Judi Herman how he has welcomed the chance to develop this moving two-hander, which explores a young family’s struggle against fear, prejudice and the identity inheritances that haunt us. He also expands on how he's updated a play originally written from a place of genuine fear and as an urgent response to overt antisemitism – of which he himself has been the target – in light of the acceleration of hate crime incidents in the UK and elsewhere.

One Jewish Boy runs until Saturday 4 April. 7.45pm, 3pm (Sat only). £20-£47.50. Trafalgar Studios, SW1A 2DY. https://trafalgar-studios.com

Also listen to our interview with Robert Neumark-Jones (who plays Jesse) and read our 2020 review of One Jewish Boy.

In conversation: Peter Kavanagh

“It’s a document of two cultures in complete opposite gyres interacting, of the clash and the rich things that come out of it”

In Paul Kember’s award-winning comedy drama Not Quite Jerusalem, four young Brits flee grim divided London of the late 1970s for Israel, in search of sun and fun on a kibbutz working holiday. Except it turns out to be more hard work than holiday under the blistering Middle East sun. There's conflict, alienation and resolution, and at least one love story in store, as they get to know their kibbutznik hosts. The show broke box office records at the Royal Court Theatre, where it premiered in 1980 and revived in 1982. Now it’s the choice of Finborough Theatre to celebrate the 40th anniversary of both the theatre and the play. In a brief break from final rehearsals, director Peter Kavanagh spoke to JR’s Arts Editor Judi Herman about the play and about the UK and Israel – then and now.

Not Quite Jerusalem runs until Saturday 28 March. 7.30pm, 3pm (Sat & Sun only). £18-£20, £16-£18 concs. Finborough Theatre, SW10 9ED. www.finboroughtheatre.co.uk

Read our review of Not Quite Jerusalem on the JR blog.

In conversation: Blitz! cast Danniella Schindler & Jessica Martin

"It’s irrelevant that our family is Jewish, we’re all the same, stuck in that shelter; we all muddle in regardless of religion or race"

Danniella Schindler (left) and Jessica Martin (right)

Lionel Bart’s musical Blitz! is currently enjoying a well-deserved revival at London’s Union Theatre. This is Bart’s autobiographical love letter to the East End where he grew up, in which he pays tribute to the wartime spirit of the Londoners who lived through Hitler’s devastating aerial bombardment of the capital. JR’s Arts Editor Judi Herman spoke to Jessica Martin, who plays the indomitable Jewish matriarch Mrs Blitzstein (based on Bart’s own mother) and Danniella Schindler, who plays her eldest daughter Rachel Finklestein.

Blitz! runs until Saturday 7 March. 7.30pm, 2.30pm (Sat & Sun only). £22, £20 concs, £15 under-18s. Union Theatre, SE1 0LR. www.uniontheatre.biz

Read our review of Blitz! on the JR blog.

'Our Hotel' sung by the Blitz! cast at The Theatre Cafe, London. Featuring Rosa Lennox (on accordion), Jessica Martin, Eleanor Griffiths and Caitlin Anderson.

In conversation: Scott Schwartz

“The burning bush is our entire ensemble; and they sing the voice of God so it’s many voices in one”

As The Prince of Egypt – the new musical based on the blockbuster film – opens in London, director Scott Schwartz took time out of rehearsals to talk to Judi Herman about what is essentially the story of Exodus. Two young men, raised together as brothers in a kingdom of privilege, find themselves suddenly divided by a secret past. One (Ramses) must rule as Pharaoh, the other (Moses) must rise up and free his true people, the Hebrews, and lead them out of Egypt. Scott elaborates on themes of the show and their relevance today, discusses the vision of the creative team, and reveals what it’s like working your father – in this case, three-time Academy Award-winner Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Godspell). Stephen has written 10 new songs for the show, including the love duet, ‘Never in a Million Years’, sung by Luke Brady (Moses) and Christine Allado (Tzipporah).

On her way out, Judi also stopped off at the costume department to gain fascinating further insight from one of the assistant costume supervisors, Lydia McDonald, who talked through some of the stunning design sketches by Ann Hould-Ward, as well as the materials and trims that go into the making.

The Prince of Egypt runs until Saturday 31 October. 7.30pm, 2.30pm (Thu & Sat only). From £19.50. Dominion Theatre, W1T 7AQ. www.theprinceofegyptmusical.com

Read our review of The Prince of Egypt on the JR blog.

In conversation: Miriam Sherwood

"Over the course of making the show I feel like I’ve got to know him"

Theatremaker Miriam Sherwood tells Judi Herman the extraordinary story of her late grandfather, Jan ‘Laco’ Kalina – Slovakian Jewish satirist, joke collector, cabaret creator and radio performer – who survived the Nazis only to be imprisoned by the Communists. He died eight years before her birth, yet thanks to the treasure trove of writings he left behind, he is her collaborator on the show Rendezvous in Bratislava that she dubs "a grandad cabaret". Sherwood talks too about the highly original performance style and musical numbers created with and by her contemporary collaborators: jazz flautist, singer and composer Maria Rehakova, and composer/performers Thom Andrewes and Will Gardner. Listeners also get to hear an extract from the show, the satirical number ‘Socialism with a Human Face’, with words in both English and Slovak that they teach the audience.

Rendezvous in Bratislava tours the UK until Sunday 17 May; visiting Oxford (7 Feb), Berkshire (11 Mar), Greater Manchester (14 Mar), London (23-24 Apr) and Yorkshire (17 May). See JR listings for further details or visit rendezvousinbratislava.wordpress.com

Read our review of Rendezvous in Bratislava on the JR blog.

Aron Grünhut: Rescuer of the Jews and Human Rights Defender

“He exemplifies the courage to care, not to be a bystander in the face of great darkness"

Nick Winton (left) and Lubomir Rehak (second from right) at the exhibition © Victor Shack

An intriguing and moving exhibition came to Northwood & Pinner Liberal Synagogue last week to mark Holocaust Memorial Day. Aron Grünhut: Rescuer of the Jews and Human Rights Defender told the extraordinary, and until now little-known, story of this Slovakian Jew who managed to use his business acumen, considerable influence and sheer chutzpah to negotiate with the Nazis to allow over 1,300 Slovakian and Austrian Jews to escape to places of safety, including Palestine and – in the case of 10 children, in collaboration with Sir Nicholas Winton – England. Routes to Palestine by boat involved danger negotiating Europe’s rivers and towards the end of the war, Grünhut’s own luck almost ran out, his life saved only by the courage of a Slovak fireman who hid him.

In this podcast, which begins with an excerpt of an address from the Ambassador of Slovakia, Lubomir Rehak, Judi Herman speaks to Ambassador Rehak, Nick Winton – son of Sir Nicholas – and Israel's Deputy Ambassador Sharon Bar-Li, about this extraordinary man and his story. Herman is a member of NPLS, a congregation with close links to both Slovakia and the Czech Republic as guardian of Torah scrolls from some of the Jewish communities in those countries that did not survive the Shoah.

In conversation: Zigi Shipper

“Whatever you do, do not hate. I don’t hate. Hate will ruin your life”

Zigi Shipper BEM (left) and Frank Bright at the AJR Holocaust Memorial Day event, 23 Jan 2020 © Adam Soller Photography

Survivor of the death camps Zigi Shipper BEM (British Empire Medal) was one of the key speakers at the Association of Jewish Refugees’ (AJR) Holocaust Memorial Day commemoration at Belsize Square Synagogue last Thursday, with the theme ‘Stand Together’. He is passionate about the vital Holocaust education work for which he was awarded the BEM and proud of his children and grandchildren, who are continuing the work. Judi Herman was privileged to be invited to Zigi's Hertfordshire home to speak to him and his wife Jeanette, and to hear more of his story and some of Jeanette’s too. As well as sharing the horror of his experiences, there was laughter from the life affirming Zigi, who has just celebrated his 90th birthday.

The Windermere Children, which Zigi mentions, airs tonight (27 Jan) on BBC2 at 9pm and will then be available on BBC iPlayer. Find out more about what the BBC have programmed to mark Holocaust Memorial Day on the JR blog.