Bad Jews
By Joshua Harmon
Aleksandar Vass -
Producer
Helen Ellis –
Executive Producer
Director – Gary
Abrahams
Set Designer –
Jacob Battista
Lighting Designer
– Rob Sowinski
Sound Designer –
Dave Ellis
Costume Designer
Kelsey Henderson
Cast
Maria Angelico –
Daphna
Simon Corfield –
Liam
Anna Burgess –
Melody
Matt Whitty –
Jonah
Alex Theatre until Sunday 14th May
Sydney Seymour Centre May 18th to June 4th
Brisbane QPAC Cremorne Theatre July 12th to 31st
Regal Theatre Perth - August 9th to 14th
2016
This engrossing
production of Bad Jews is played out
on a charming set, designed by Jacob Battista, of a tiny apartment that feels
part pressure cooker part fish bowl. It
is a studio apartment in New York, New York with a bathroom that overlooks the
Hudson River. Four characters, three of
whom who have been rendered emotionally raw from the grief of their
grandfathers recent demise, interact through the malaise of a kind of fraught
cabin fever.
This production by
the Vass Theatre Group is stunning. And
it is the perfect chance to catch a great show at the inspiring Alex Theatre -Fitzroy
Street in St Kilda.
Who would have
thought that Cinemas could be such spectacularly acoustically successful and comfortable
venues for live Theatre!
Bad Jews is marvelously successful work from American writer Joshua Harmon. It has received many productions on both
sides of the Atlantic. But this lauded
script is not without its flaws. As a
situation comedy the set up is credible and the insights sharp and often
hysterically funny in their truthfulness.


Although the
situation of losing a Grandfather is universal and not culturally specific this
work is very Jewish and fascinatingly so.
I wonder if a bi-lingual approach in the writing could offer the
audience to a richer sense of inclusion into a rarefied culture. (I realize that I am thinking this because of
the fluid use of Yiddish in Malthouse’s recent discussion/production on the
Dybbuk that made no apologies for expecting the audience to find ways into the pervading
ethos.)
Garry Abrahams
draws unique and robust work out of his uniformly capable actors. Though every now and again there seems to be
a bit of divergence in styles and at times a slight clash between naturalism
and a more heightened (possibly American) theatrical style. I wish
he would give Matt Whitty’s character Jonah a guitar to a least strum a few
chords on to further define his character as evasive observer.
Engaging and absorbing
Theatre that should tour brilliantly – totally worth catching if it comes to
Theatre near you!
Suzanne Sandow
(For Stage Whispers)
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