Royal Court, London
Jonathan Freedland has turned 180,000 words drawn from interviews into a potent verbatim play about antisemitism and the blindspots of liberal institutions. The results feel urgent – but is its remit simply too large?
This verbatim drama about antisemitism was, ironically, born out of an instance of antisemitism in the theatre now staging it, and it opens with a reference to that episode. A man emerges out of a crackle of light, invoking the birth of humankind, to be told he is Hershel Fink, the accidentally Jewish-sounding name initially given to the avaricious billionaire in the play Rare Earth Mettle, produced at the Royal Court in 2021.
Based on an idea by the actor Tracy-Ann Oberman and written by the Guardian journalist Jonathan Freedland, the play aims to examine antisemitism inside liberal institutions such as this venue and more emphatically the political left that draw themselves as the enlightened, anti-racist “good guys” but harbour unconscious bigotries.
