12:37
Finborough Theatre | ★★★★✩

Why am I always in the wrong country at the wrong time?” asks Cecil, the youngest of two Jewish brothers from Dublin.

By the time he says this in Julia Pascal’s absorbing new play, which the author directs, Cecil (Eoin O’Dubhghaill) and Paul (Alex Cartuson) have moved from their home town in Dublin where they were raised in poverty amid the fervour of Irish republicanism, have fought fascists in London’s East End, witnessed the effects of the Holocaust and then settled in Palestine under British rule.

Individually these world events have been addressed by many a commendable (and risible) play. But seen through Pascal’s lens they feel and smell as fresh as newly mown hay.
You can put this down to one more little-seen (at least on stage) subject that runs through all of the above: Jewish nationalism.

The idea of national determination is not an alien concept to the Jews in this play chiefly because of their politically engaged (and often antisemitic it’s made clear) Irish peers. And obviously many a Zionist didn’t need to be born in Ireland to be attracted to the idea of a Jewish state.

1237 Lisa O-Connor and Eoin O-Dubhghaill DSC00747

Lisa O'Connor and Eoin O'Dubhghaill (Yaron Lapid)

But by following the Green brothers’ journey from Ireland to the cusp of Israel’s establishment this play forces even the most fervent anti-Zionist to ask why should not Jewish nationalism be seen as morally equivalent to other nationalisms?

All have idealistic intentions and violent, dirty outcomes, such as the bombing of the King David Hotel in Jerusalem by Zionists on July 22, 1946 at the time of this play’s title.

It is a case made all the more strongly because conflicting arguments are addressed here rather than ignored.

When in the wake of the Holocaust Paul — the angrier of the two siblings because his ma (Ruth Lass) stood in the way of him marrying the Catholic girl of his dreams — says “a land without a people for a people without a land”, his brother simply retorts, “But that’s not true, is it?”

It also helps that these heavy subjects are not laden with a sense of worthiness, thanks in part to a committed and talented cast.

The anger of Cartuson’s Paul builds in intensity as he commits to fighting the British. O’Dubhgaill, meanwhile, is excellent as the happy-go-lucky brother who ends up entertaining British troops in Palestine as part of ENSA while unbeknown to him, his brother plots to bomb them.

Cecil’s singing and joking might have been excruciating with a less capable actor. But O’Dubhgaill — who has more than a passing resemblance to Tony Hancock — rises to the challenge while sporting a remarkably good voice too. Lisa O’Connor is also worth a mention, doubling in the role of Paul’s first love and then switching to Communist firebrand

Rina Goldberg whose experience in the Holocaust hollows her out.

Like all the best political plays, Pascal’s is more interested in revealing complexity than pushing a particular point of view. The author directs with simple purity though spectacular events such as the Battle of Cable Street and the King David bomb might have benefited with some sound design.

Still, that’s a quibble. The result is work whose span, reach and potency belies the size of the Finborough’s tiny stage. It deserves a future life.