Being Jewish with a Difference
“As a minimum a girl’s shorts should be longer than her vagina!”
Shoshana
It is currently the most divisive issue: the right of Israel to exist and the destruction in Gaza and the Lebanon. October 7th 2023 saw terrible killings and the taking of hostages from within Israel by HAMAS and since then we have witnessed the killing in Gaza and the Lebanon.
Nathan Englander’s play What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank started as a short story in 2012 but has now been converted into a full length play with continuous updates to accommodate recent political developments in Israel and Gaza. With a top rated director Patrick Marber, cast and designer Anna Fleischle, What We Talk A bout When We Talk About Anne Frank is making an impact at Marylebone’s newest theatre.
The play itself is primarily a comedy about two Jewish couples with different views about current day Judaism. Phil (Joshua Malina) a mediation lawyer and his wife Debbie (Caroline Catz) are wealthy, live in a large house in Florida and are of Jewish descent. Their practising of religion is a modern approach with little to identify themselves as Jewish. Their teenage son, Trevor (Gabriel Howell) is going through a rebellious stage including a rejection of the Jewish faith and a concern about climate change.
Visiting Phil and Debbie are a couple born in America and who now live in Jerusalem. Both are dressed as orthodox Jews, Shoshana (Dorothea Myer-Bennett) was called Lauren when she was at college with Debbie. She wears a plain black dress and a large blonde wig, covering her hair by tradition. Shoshana is married to Yerucham (Simon Yadoo) once known as Mark. They have both converted from Liberal Judaism to a highly Orthodox way of life. You can see the Tzitzit fringes from Yerucham’s Tallit beneath his waistcoat, and he wears a yarmulke and the Borsalino hat. No-one is allowed to touch Shoshana and Yerucham says a prayer before eating.
The different approaches to life become a source of humour for the audience. Part of the play is the uncovering of the things not talked about. The Floridians have one child, the Israelis seven, really eight but one daughter has been declared dead to them by her father for leaving the confines of their orthodoxy. Trevor says humorously , “I’m a Pastafarian.” Yerucham tries to persuade Trevor to return to the faith of his ancestors and tells Trevor that he now adheres to the “religion of spaghetti”.
Debbie says that she thinks every day about the Holocaust and brings up the subject of Gaza. They drink consummate amounts of vodka and then raid Trevor’s cannabis stash. The alcohol allows Shoshana to talk about her lost child.
I enjoyed all the performances. I liked Joshua Molina’s separating of Phil into an observer and sardonic commentator and enjoyed his humour. It is really nice to see Caroline Catz on stage after her Doc Martin stint. Dorothea Myer-Bennett is especially touching on the denial of her love for her shunned daughter. Anna Fleischle’s set is spacious and affluent.
I didn’t get the Anne Frank “game” of each deciding whether they would save each other from the Nazis as my interpretation of “talking about Anne Frank” is to remember the Holocaust.
A recent survey showed that of Jewish year 18 to 34 olds in America 62% were against the reprisals in Gaza.
The constant updates from Israeli counter attacks in Gaza and Lebanon make the play a bit of a smorgasbord and in Trevor’s eyes I understand why climate change may be the most important world issue and we have to hope that we can find a solution.
Editor of TheatreVibe.co.uk
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Production Notes
What We Talk About When We Talk About Anne Frank
Written by Nathan Englander
Directed by Patrick Marber
Cast
Starring:
Caroline Catz
Dorothea Myer-Bennett
Simon Yadoo
Joshua Malina
Gabriel Howell
Creatives
Director: Patrick Marber
Designer: Anna Fleischle
Movement Director: EJ Boyle
Lighting Designer: Sally Ferguson
Sound Designer: David Gregory
Fight Director: Tim Klotz
Information
Running Time: Two hours including an interval
Booking to 23rd November 2024
Theatre:
Marylebone Theatre
Website: marylebonetheatre.com
Tube: Baker Street
Reviewed by
Lizzie Loveridge
at the Marylebone Theatre
on 14th October 2024