As part of our aim of actively supporting the further development of Yiddish culture, including the possible revival of Yiddish theatre in the UK, the Yiddish Café Trust is delighted to have launched a Yiddish theatre initiative. The first events in London in 2024 were a great success. Since then we have been holding Yiddish theatre workshops, with a view to forming a theatre troupe in the future.
For more information, contact: trust@yiddishcafe.com
A Season of Yiddish Theatre
We were thrilled to organise our first season of Yiddish theatre from January to March 2024, a collaboration between University College London (UCL), JW3, and the Yiddish Café Trust. The season was led by Dr Sonia Gollance (UCL). It consisted of three Yiddish theatre events, with an associated Yiddish theatre workshop, all held at JW3.
24th January 2024: Secrets of the London Yiddish Stage
A talented troupe of actors and musicians, including well known actor, playwright, comedian and theatre producer David Schneider and celebrated New York Yiddish actor Shane Baker, were brought together for this entertaining and thought-provoking performance, directed by Yiddish scholar and performer Vivi Lachs. This evening of one-act plays, sketches, and songs also included excerpts in Yiddish from The Merchant of Venice and The King of Lampedusa, with subtitled translation. Attendees got the sense of the history and atmosphere of London’s vibrant Jewish immigrant theatre: cry, sing, laugh and heckle!
22nd February 2024: Mirele Efros by Jacob Gordin
One of the greatest hits of the Yiddish stage, Mirele Efros is called the “Yiddish Queen Lear” for its depiction of a fierce and complex matriarch. Featuring a company of leading British-Jewish actors, this play reading (in English) was directed by Richard Beecham; it was be followed by an audience Q&A and Yiddish extracts directed by Tamara Micner (featuring Tamara Micner & David Schneider). The translation for this performance was by Nahma Sandrow.
6th March 2024: Miryeml by Tea Arciszewska – a world premiere!
Tea Arciszewska was a dazzling figure in the prewar Warsaw Yiddish culture scene – an actress, dramaturge, salon hostess, and muse to the renowned Yiddish writer I. L. Peretz. Miryeml is a modernist work that deftly integrates twentieth-century history and Jewish folklore into a narrative about children’s response to trauma, challenging our expectations of Yiddish theatre. Tea Arciszewska started writing the play in the 1920s, focussed on the experiences of children during the pogroms that followed World War I. She worked on the play for decades. It was first published in 1958, but never performed (as far as we know). The staged reading, directed by Leo Doulton, will make use of the new English translation of Sonia Gollance.
28th February 2024: Yiddish Theatre Workshop
There was also a Yiddish Theatre Workshop as part of the season, led and coordinated by Tamara Micner.