Tezza's Theatre Place

My first show of 2020 sees me, once again Islington bound, to the fabled King’s Head for Unleash the Llama’s production   JEW…ish . This is the story of TJ (Edie Newman) and Max (Saul Boyer) two millennials that met at university, were members of the polyamory society and shared many experiences together. Now they have left Uni and are in the real world – Max is a not very successful stand-up comic (and part time barista) whilst TJ is a performer who expresses herself through the world of creative interpretive dance. They are still together – sort of – and probably have as many differences with each other as they do things in common. For example, Max is Jewish, and has the stereotypically large overbearing family to go with it, whilst TJ is definitely a Gentile and firmly believes that Max’s family hates her. Given their history can, and indeed should, these two try and make a go of things, or should, and indeed can, they let each other go their separate ways? What a great sta...

The Holocaust has been a major source of material for books, films, television programmes etc. Most of these tend to concentrate on the horrors of the death camps or the ghettos. But not all of the Nazi’s victims were sent straight to these places and some were interred in transit camps such as Westerbork which is the setting for Ian Buckley’s play  The Project  receiving its world premiere at the White Bear Theatre. At this camp, things are slightly better for the inmates. As well as reasonable housing – a far higher standard than in the ghettos – there is a school, hairdresser, and even restaurants for the occupants to use. Conditions may not be perfect but, under the command of SS Officer Conrad Schaffer (Mike Duran), life is bearable most of the time. It certainly is for the performers of the camp cabaret. While they have to wear the Jewish star on their clothing, at least it is their own clothes and not the striped pajamas worn in other parts of the Reich. The leader ...

Andy Nyman (Tevye) image by Johan Persson. As we get to the end of another year of reviewing, my mind has turned to the traditional list of my top ten shows for 2018. It was pretty much settled until last night when a visit to the Menier Chocolate Factory to see the new production of  Fiddler on The Roof  has caused a rethink in the rankings. It is 1905 and in the Russian shtetl of Anatevka, Tevye (Andy Nyman) a farmer lives with his wife Golde (Judy Kuhn) and his five daughters Tzeitel (Molly Osborne ), Hodel (Harriet Bunton), Chava (Kirsty MacLaren ), Shprintze (Lia Cohen/Shoshana Ezequiel/Valentina Theodoulou) and Bielke (Sofia Bennett/Lottie Casserley/Matilda Hopkins). The family are very poor – barely on the breadline, it could be said – but somehow Tevye manages to keep his spirits up and, amongst his fellow Jews in the village, he is respected as a stout member of the community. This day, there is good news for the family. Tevye has met a drifter by the name of Perc...