Revenge: After the Lavoyah

The Yard | ★★★★★

The knowledgeable woman on my left was not the first to see shades of Steven Berkoff in Nick Cassenbaum’s fearless, unfiltered fantasy in which a motley crew of Jews plan revenge on Jeremy Corbyn.

Returning to London after winning a deserved Fringe First in Edinburgh last year, Cassenbaum’s two-hander is brimful of Jewish archetypes, none more larger than life than nonagenarian East End gangster Malcolm Spivak who plans to kidnap the Labour leader for the antisemitism that is spreading throughout the land like knotweed.

Barnett and Corbett-Bader in Revenge After the Levoyah

The careening plot is superbly told by twins Lauren (Gemma Barnett) and Dan (Dylan Corbett-Bader).

They first encounter Malcolm at their grandfather’s shiva, and are thereafter embroiled in a conspiracy that begins with Corbyn being given bait he can’t resist – a fake invitation to a Holocaust memorial event.

There are no sacred cows here. In one cathartic hour and with two pitch-perfect performances directed by Emma Jude Harris any residual Jewish anxiety from one of the darkest periods for the community evaporates as Barnett and Corbett-Bader hilariously morph between such characters as neo-Nazi boiler engineer and a liberal rabbi who joins the plot in the hope of garnering brownie points from her congregation even though she rather likes Corbyn. Let us hope that Cassenbaum builds on this wild success to become a theatrical voice as singular as Berkoff.