Judi Herman

January 9, 2019

Reviews, Theatre

Pinter Five ★★★★★ and Pinter Six ★★★★

Judi Herman

January 9, 2019

Reviews, Theatre

This unique sequence of short plays has illuminated the work of this most iconoclastic of playwrights and I’m sure I’m not the only one whose spine tingles with anticipation as each new programme is unveiled. It’s not just…

Judi Herman

December 21, 2018

Reviews, Theatre

One Jewish Boy ★★★★

Judi Herman

December 21, 2018

Reviews, Theatre

Since playwright Stephen Laughton embarked on writing his response to the rise of antisemitism, attacks both physical and virtual have increased. It continues to be hot news and Laughton himself has been the subject of invective online and posters for the play have been defaced…

Judi Herman

December 19, 2018

Reviews, Theatre

Caroline, Or Change ★★★★★

Judi Herman

December 19, 2018

Reviews, Theatre

Since I first saw Caroline, Or Change at its 2017 premiere at Chichester Festival Theatre, it has enjoyed a triumphant transfer to Hampstead Theatre and now opens in London’s West End. Some roles have been recast for the Playhouse Theatre with equally talented performers. If possible…

Judi Herman

December 14, 2018

Reviews, Theatre

Fiddler on the Roof ★★★★★

Judi Herman

December 14, 2018

Reviews, Theatre

Fresh from a richly evocative tour of the ‘real Anatevka’ led by Sholom Aleichem himself (aka Saul Reichlin in his one-man show), I find myself in the heart of the shtetl again. Here at the Menier Chocolate Factory, a huddle of dimly-lit run-down dwellings embraces villagers onstage and in the…

Judi Herman

December 12, 2018

Reviews, Theatre

Borders and Games ★★★★

Judi Herman

December 12, 2018

Reviews, Theatre

Henry Naylor writes theatre that makes you sit up and listen. He needs you to engage with the terrors and injustices of the Syrian conflict now; he wants you to share his indignation at historic wrongs and persecution in Nazi Germany. But equally he knows that to hammer…

Judi Herman

November 30, 2018

Reviews, Theatre

Fanatical ★★★★

Judi Herman

November 30, 2018

Reviews, Theatre

Welcome to Angel8Con and the happy crew of cosplayers (that’s fans dressed as their onscreen idols). This world might be alien to the rest of us mere mortals, but it looks like huge fun in this appealingly inventive new musical by Matt Board (music and lyrics) and Reina Hardy (book)…

Judi Herman

November 14, 2018

Reviews, Theatre

Pinter Three and Pinter Four ★★★★

Judi Herman

November 14, 2018

Reviews, Theatre

Season supremo Jamie Lloyd has an extraordinarily clear vision of how to weave Harold Pinter’s playlets together. Plus his cast of starry names work with total commitment and teamwork as an ensemble. Pinter Three is a combination of short sharp sketches framed by two…

Judi Herman

November 12, 2018

Reviews, Theatre

Brexit ★★★★

Judi Herman

November 12, 2018

Reviews, Theatre

This is a fast-moving, merciless satire comes from barrister and playwright Robert Khan, and writer and podcaster Tom Salinsky (who also nimbly directs). This pair of Jewish wits offer a take on Brexit that is, if anything, sharpened by its arrival in London after selling out in Edinburgh…

Judi Herman

November 7, 2018

Reviews, Theatre

Bury the Dead ★★★★

Judi Herman

November 7, 2018

Reviews, Theatre

Bronx-born Jewish writer Irwin Shaw served in the US army in World War II, but he wrote this haunting expressionist drama in 1936, aged only 23. Although he sets it in “the second year of the war that is to begin tomorrow night”, it is perhaps more a comment on the waging…

Judi Herman

November 5, 2018

Reviews, Theatre

Semites ★★★★

Judi Herman

November 5, 2018

Reviews, Theatre

“You don’t make peace with your friends; you make peace with your enemies.” Audience members are already actively engaged by the time they hear this powerful opening declaration. Smiling performers Ben Nathan and Lara Sawalha have invited them to take off their shoes as…