Theatre review: Jews. In Their Own Words.

When the Royal Court announced Jonathan Freedland's Jews. In Their Own Words. as the opener for its autumn season, my brain autocorrected the title to Jews. Please Don't Boycott Us. After last year's antisemitism fiasco it was pretty obvious that this was an attempt at a mea culpa from the venue, and while there's definitely something to be said for not dragging their feet about addressing the issue, ten months since that happened seems a very quick turnaround for a theatre where scripts can percolate for years. (For anyone not up to speed: Rare Earth Mettle was meant to feature a shifty billionaire called Hershel Fink. Having seen the play, I'd say playwright Al Smith was probably going for something with the vague cadences of "Elon Musk," but he actually landed on a hugely stereotypical Jewish name, paired with an equally stereotypical moneybags character. When the play opened in previews and caused offence, the name was changed, but further controversy came with reports that some people had highlighted the connotations and been ignored.)

In fairness there's no pretence that the show, which Artistic Director Vicky Featherstone directs alongside Audrey Sheffield, is anything other than a direct response and apology: It begins with a Biblical parody as the character of Fink (Alex Waldmann) lands on the stage in a loincloth and asks who he's supposed to be.

The rest of the evening is a verbatim play in which Freedland has interviewed twelve British Jews (obligatory “Twelve interviews? Alecky Blythe does that before breakfast!”) who as well as members of the public include high-profile names like politicians Margaret Hodge and Luciana Berger, writer Howard Jacobson, and actor Tracy-Ann Oberman, who's also credited with giving Freedland the idea for the show. Waldmann, Billy Ashcroft, Debbie Chazen, Louisa Clein, Steve Furst, Rachel-Leah Hosker and Hemi Yeroham play them, initially giving straightforward speeches which Freedland gradually edits into more of a conversation between them. Whatever the qualities of the work itself, there's no question the all-Jewish cast are a highlight, throwing what feels like a lot of genuine and personal emotion, as well as humour into their portrayals. (Also, hello Billy Ashcroft.)

Beginning with the stereotypes they have to deal with in their daily lives and where they originated historically (Norwich, as it turns out,) they move onto how they affect their lives in real terms, from work opportunities to Twitter trolls. The older characters also recount the experiences their parents and grandparents had fleeing, or in one case not managing to flee, the Holocaust. The title Jews. In Their Own Words. is maybe a bit too apt, as the words are serious and important ones, but the interviews were only carried out a few months ago, and collated by a journalist rather than a playwright - they remain words, not a piece of theatre.

Using the interviewees' own sense of humour, pastiches of antisemitic dumbshows to tell the historical sections, and the odd musical number, Featherstone and Sheffield try to turn it into something more theatrical but eventually give up and have the characters sit around a table for much of the second half, conversing. The biggest missed opportunity for me, though, is in not focusing enough on what could have been the show's USP, namely investigating why left-wing institutions like the Royal Court and the Labour Party continue to unearth problems with antisemitism. There's plenty of instances cited, but by far the most interesting moment to me was when the psychology behind them was actually interrogated: The left wing is all about standing up for the underdog; if, consciously or unconsciously, you've absorbed the Jews=Money=Power trope, then attacking them feels like punching upwards.

It's not that statements about genocide, or the conflation of all Jews with the actions of the Israeli state, don't have their place, but I'm not sure they should be the focus for a liberal audience that's likely to have a higher-than-usual Jewish percentage. I may be wrong, but I'm not convinced a show at the Royal Court called Jews is likely to attract a lot of Holocaust deniers and convert them en masse. By treating the specific issue of antisemitism on the left wing as equal to the rest, it feels like the Royal Court aren't particularly holding a mirror to themselves or their audiences. It just compounds the sense of this being the hastily put-together work it clearly is, and despite the directors' efforts it's not really a theatrical response: This is a long-read article, not a play.

Jews. In Their Own Words. by Jonathan Freedland from an idea by Tracy-Ann Oberman is booking until the 22nd of October at the Royal Court's Jerwood Theatre Downstairs.

Running time: 1 hour 45 minutes straight through.

Photo credit: Manuel Harlan.