,

A history of Jewish jazz

,
A history of Jewish jazz

“Music is the most beautiful language in the world,” proclaimed Weinberg’s gramophone shop in the 1920s. This formed the basis of one of their adverts in a Yiddish language newspaper once sold on the streets of Whitechapel. At the time, swinging dance bands were…

,

Falling in Love Again ★★★

,
Falling in Love Again ★★★

There’s a pleasing synchronicity to Ron Elisha’s take on the abdication of Edward VIII and how no less a femme fatale than Marlene Dietrich might have tried to change history by getting him to ‘fall in love' again. The play arrives onstage just as royals seeking to abdicate their duties…

,

Interview: Patrick Marber

,
Interview: Patrick Marber

“I consider myself a Jewish writer, like all my heroes: Tom Stoppard, David Mamet, Philip Roth, Arthur Miller, Woody Allen,” said director Patrick Marber in an interview in 2015. Now he is directing a play from one of those “heroes”, Tom Stoppard – a play which might be…

,

Rags the Musical ★★★★

,
Rags the Musical ★★★★

With book by Fiddler librettist Joseph Stein (sympathetically revised by David Thompson), it’s clear that Rags might represent the future of Anatevka’s plucky emigrants. Designer Gregor Donnelly loads piles of battered suitcases around the action as another boatload of…

,

Refuge and Renewal

,
Refuge and Renewal

I was first made aware of Wales-based curator Peter Wakelin’s plans for this ambitious exhibition in early 2018. When, having heard about my own plans for the Insiders/Outsiders festival, he contacted me in the hope that we might collaborate. Since there seemed an evident…