Danielle Goldstein

March 13, 2019

Reviews, Theatre

Strike up the Band ★★★

Danielle Goldstein

March 13, 2019

Reviews, Theatre

Last week saw the American ambassador to the UK using strangely combative language in defence of US chlorine-washed chicken and yet another awkward love-in/stand-off between his current boss and North Korea’s Kim Jong Un. So this 1927 collaboration between the Gershwin…

Danielle Goldstein

February 28, 2019

Reviews, Theatre

Come From Away ★★★★★

Danielle Goldstein

February 28, 2019

Reviews, Theatre

From the Canadian Jewish husband and wife writing team Irene Sankoff and David Hein, Come From Away tells the incredible true story of how the residents of Gander, Newfoundland, welcomed the passengers of planes from around the world grounded by the 9/11 attacks…

Danielle Goldstein

February 26, 2019

Reviews, Music

Roots ★★★★

Danielle Goldstein

February 26, 2019

Reviews, Music

Earlier this month a sweet little debut album came courtesy of Minim Singers. Entitled Roots, it comprises seven ethereal tracks, which total at just over 13 minutes, that reimagine and revive traditional Jewish choral songs. "Our mission," explains co-chair Sophie Ross, "is to give life…

Danielle Goldstein

February 18, 2019

Reviews, Theatre

The American Clock ★★★★

Danielle Goldstein

February 18, 2019

Reviews, Theatre

It’s open season on Arthur Miller in the UK right now, as this second autobiographical play looking back to the legacy of the Great Depression joins The Price on the London stage, with All My Sons waiting in the wings to follow in April. It’s also a sign of the times that both the…

Judi Herman

February 14, 2019

Reviews, Theatre

The Price ★★★★

Judi Herman

February 14, 2019

Reviews, Theatre

Arthur Miller pours the pain he and his family suffered during the deprivations of the Great Depression into this 1968 play. He tells the story of two brothers meeting for the first time in 15 years, confronting each other and their demons in the condemned New York apartment building…

Judi Herman

February 11, 2019

Reviews, Theatre

Pinter Seven ★★★★

Judi Herman

February 11, 2019

Reviews, Theatre

At first sight these paired two-handers from 1957/8 seem poles apart. The protagonists of A Slight Ache are upper middle-class stockbroker belt denizens Flora (Gemma Whelan) and Edward (John Heffernan), complete with precisely clipped 50s vowels. In The Dumb Waiter…

Judi Herman

February 4, 2019

Reviews, Theatre

Beast on the Moon ★★★★

Judi Herman

February 4, 2019

Reviews, Theatre

“In 1895 there was an eclipse of the moon and supposedly in Turkey, some people thought that by shooting at the ‘beast’ on the moon they could somehow rid it of the shadow,” says Richard Kalinoski, explaining the title of his play. For him, that vividly represented how the Turks…

Judi Herman

January 22, 2019

Reviews, Theatre

An Enemy of the People ★★★★

Judi Herman

January 22, 2019

Reviews, Theatre

Arthur Miller wrote his adaptation of Henrik Ibsen’s 1882 play in the 1950s, around the time he wrote The Crucible, when McCarthyism was at its height. A 1978 movie version starred Steve McQueen as the eponymous Dr Stockmann. He’s vilified as “an enemy of the people” in order to…

Judi Herman

January 16, 2019

Reviews, Theatre

Rosenbaum’s Rescue ★★★★

Judi Herman

January 16, 2019

Reviews, Theatre

Alexander Bodin Saphir has a personal tale to tell as thrilling as any Nordic noir drama. His grandparents were among the 7,000-plus Danish Jews famously rescued from the Nazis by their fellow Danes. Moreover, His grandfather, a Copenhagen tailor, holds vital clues that help…

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…