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Arts agenda: From ‘Pickle’ to klezmer, get ready for showtime
Comedy featuring the ‘Jewish Bridget Jones’ and a klezmer celebration are among the best Jewish cultural events coming up this season
March 19, 2024 12:04
Comedy featuring the ‘Jewish Bridget Jones’ and a klezmer celebration are among the best Jewish cultural events coming up this season
March 19, 2024 12:04Spring has arrived and with the new season comes a raft of fresh arts events centred around Jewish culture for our calendars. Here is our pick of some of the most exciting and compelling events in the coming weeks.
Pickle
Deli Segal’s uproarious show about Ari, a young British woman caught between the two worlds she occupies, Jewish and secular, returns to the Soho Theatre following a sold-out run there last summer.
Written and performed by Segal, the one-woman show has racked up a slew of positive reviews – the JC hailed the writer’s ability to skewer her closely-observed characters to “perfection” and likened Ari to a Jewish Bridget Jones.
It was also recognised in 2022 with a hat-trick of Off West End award nominations, including for best new play. Expect sharp wit, smoked salmon and self-deprecation.
Soho Theatre, London; April 15-27; suitable for ages 16-plus; tickets £14-£22; to book visit sohotheatre.com or phone 020 7478 0100
KlezNorth AllStar Concert 2024
The annual KlezNorth Festival may be sold out, but klezmer music fans can still enjoy some of the shindig’s finest tunes, dance and songs at the KlezNorth AllStars Concert on the Sunday.
The afternoon of klezmer music and Yiddish song will feature KlezNorth musical directors - the Latvian Yiddish singer Sasha Lurje, and composer and fiddler Craig Judelman. They will be supported by singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist Michael Alpert, accordionist Sanne Möricke and saxophonist and clarinettist John McNaughton.
Youlgrave Village Hall, Derbyshire; April 7; tickets £5-£15; kleznorth.org.uk
Pieces of a Man
Fathers can be complicated – especially when they have survived the Shoah. As a child, David Labi’s dad – a Libyan-Italian Jew – survived Bergen-Belsen. He went on to become a bombastic, wheeler-dealing businessman whose unprocessed trauma fuelled a rollercoaster of a life, with his family dragged along for the ride.
Labi’s comic one-man show about fatherhood, trauma and joy – and a midlife crisis – comes to JW3 for two nights following a successful run in Antwerp, Brussels and Amsterdam.
JW3, London; April 2-3; tickets £12; to book visit jw3.org.uk or phone 020 7433 8988
A Song of Songs
The musical theatre show A Song of Songs makes its European debut in the UK after scooping the San Francisco Critics Award for best new production across the pond.
The show, which blends Middle Eastern harmonics with the sounds of modern European flamenco and klezmer, stars Israeli actor, writer and composer Ofra Daniel as a young wife, Tirzah, who is in a loveless relationship with her husband, played by Matthew Woodyatt (One Man Two Guvnors). Upon being contacted by a secret admirer, (Joaquin Pedro Valdes, Heathers the Musical) she falls under his spell and embarks on a love affair with the mysterious stranger.
Written and directed by Daniel, who also co-created the music.
Park Theatre, Finsbury Park, London; May 9-June 15; tickets £25-£42.50; suitable for ages 15-plus; parktheatre.co.uk; 020 7870 6876
UK Jewish Film Festival
The UK Jewish Film Festival comes of age in 2024, after 18 years of support from the Pears Short Film Fund. To mark the occasion, organisers are putting on a gala to celebrate the many films produced in this time that have gone on to win critical acclaim and prestigious awards.
The gala, attended by industry movers and shakers, will include guest speakers Dame Maureen Lipman and Tracy Ann Oberman plus director and screenwriter Sam Leifer.
Curzon Bloomsbury, London; April 4; tickets £15; ukjewishfilm.org; 01233 555644