Danielle Goldstein

September 24, 2020

Reviews, Theatre

The Mock Appeal with Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Danielle Goldstein

September 24, 2020

Reviews, Theatre

The Mock Appeal with Ruth Bader Ginsburg

Four years ago I was privileged to be a spectator in a very unique courtroom. The setting? Venice Ghetto. The case? Shylock v Antonio. The Mock Appeal – held as part of the ghetto's 500th anniversary celebrations, during which…

Danielle Goldstein

July 28, 2020

Reviews, Film & TV

Unchained ★★★★

Danielle Goldstein

July 28, 2020

Reviews, Film & TV

Every episode of Unchained begins with a stark but detailed summary of the plight of agunot (chained women in Hebrew), the term for women in the Orthodox Jewish tradition who are trapped in marriage by husbands who refuse to give them a divorce. After this sobering eye…

Danielle Goldstein

June 24, 2020

Reviews

Resistance ★★★

Danielle Goldstein

June 24, 2020

Reviews

The story of Marcel Marceau's wartime heroism – helping to rescue of thousands of Jewish children from Nazi-occupied France – is one that deserves to better known. This account of the French Jewish mime artist's exploits from director Jonathan Jakubowicz will certainly help…

Danielle Goldstein

April 14, 2020

Reviews

Unorthodox ★★★★★

Danielle Goldstein

April 14, 2020

Reviews

For anyone unfamiliar with Chasidic Jewish communities, or indeed any of the varying branches of Judaism, one word is likely to spring to mind when watching Unorthodox: 'cult'. The story begins with 19-year-old Esty's frantic flight from Brooklyn to Berlin, a journey on which she takes…

Danielle Goldstein

March 16, 2020

Reviews, Theatre

One Jewish Boy ★★★★

Danielle Goldstein

March 16, 2020

Reviews, Theatre

Stephen Laughton premiered his poignant, poetic exploration of a beautiful relationship threatened by the trauma of antisemitism in 2018. In this reworking for 2020, it's lost none of its power and, sadly, it's even more topical. Laughton himself has continued to be the target of…

Danielle Goldstein

March 12, 2020

Reviews, Theatre

The Visit, or The Old Lady Comes to Call ★★★★

Danielle Goldstein

March 12, 2020

Reviews, Theatre

The Visit, or The Old Lady Comes to Call ★★★★

If ever place names were nominatively determinative, Tony Kushner’s Slurry, relocated from Swiss playwright Friedrich Dürrenmatt’s homeland to outside New York, perfectly reflects the rundown industrial town awaiting the…

Danielle Goldstein

March 10, 2020

Reviews, Theatre

Not Quite Jerusalem ★★★★

Danielle Goldstein

March 10, 2020

Reviews, Theatre

Working on a kibbutz can be a culture shock even for Jewish youngsters – and I speak from experience. So the quartet of ill-assorted volunteers in playwright Paul Kember’s Not Quite Jerusalem – revived for the first time since 1982 as part of the Finborough's 40th anniversary…

Danielle Goldstein

March 4, 2020

Reviews, Theatre

The Mikvah Project ★★★★

Danielle Goldstein

March 4, 2020

Reviews, Theatre

The mikvah, the Jewish ritual bath, is usually imagined as an intimate female space, where immersion is mandatory for observant prospective brides and women cleansing themselves after menstruation. Men share mikva’ot too though and the two young men who face up to…

Danielle Goldstein

March 2, 2020

Reviews, Theatre

The Prince of Egypt ★★★★

Danielle Goldstein

March 2, 2020

Reviews, Theatre

For those brought up on the Exodus story, sharing it every year at the Passover Seder table, and for fans of the hit film, there are no spoilers in The Prince of Egypt, but there are surprises in this full-blooded reimagining of the musical. For starters, in Philip LaZebnik’s book, the bromance…

Danielle Goldstein

February 26, 2020

Reviews

The Painted Bird ★★★

Danielle Goldstein

February 26, 2020

Reviews

At the 2019 Venice Film Festival, 12 members of the audience attempted to escape The Painted Bird screening, lashing out and falling up the stairs in the process. Why? Because this horrifying drama exposes the absolute worst of mankind, as collected from survivor testimony, shown…