CULTURE
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“Queen of the Jews!” ★★★★ — Jewish Renaissance
A cleverly structured hour that is testament to Jewish humour and perseverance Inspired by a hate message that concluded with, “Who do you think you are, Queen of the Jews?”, Rachel Creeger earns her crown in this sharp and warmly funny new show. The framing of “Queen of the Jews!” sees the London comic sharing instances of antisemitism that she’s…
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Summer reads — Jewish Renaissance
My Lover, the RabbiBy Wayne Koestenbaum (Granta, £14.99) To the majority of a small New Jersey congregation, Lover, their rabbi is merely the The leader of their pack. A Rabbi middle-aged, somewhat unkempt and arrogant man. But to our unnamed protagonist, he is so much more. Why? He couldn’t say. It is this search for reason in the irrational pit…
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“Is this the end of a second Weimar?” — Jewish Renaissance
Reports from various official watchdogs in Germany have also recorded a rise in antisemitism since 7 October, including a knife attack at Berlin’s Jewish Memorial in February 2025 that left a Spanish tourist severely injured. However, Ocher says that such reports do not mirror her own experience. “Antisemitism surely exists, but I experienced none of it in 20 years of…
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Lifting the cloak on Baghdad — Jewish Renaissance
In Carol Isaacs’s new graphic novel, a magical abaya reveals a family history, bringing the world of Jewish Iraq vividly to life How do you write a family story your parents don’t tell you? In her new children’s graphic novel The Cloak From Baghdad, adapted from her award-winning graphic memoir The Wolf of Baghdad, Carol Isaacs explores memory, identity and…
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A house divided? — Jewish Renaissance
Yet Yael strongly disputes this reading of her work. “I am not ambivalent about my mother,” she says. “I had a fantastic relationship with my father and I feel like I have a fantastic relationship with my mother.” Her father also travelled a lot for his work, but “I always had the feeling that if, at any time of the…
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Is it too Late Now to Say Sorry? ★★★★ — Jewish Renaissance
Adam Lenson explores apology in an affecting multimedia solo show If reading the title of Adam Lenson’s solo show immediately calls to mind Justin Bieber’s 2015 earworm, rest assured that’s deliberate. The question posed here is the backbone of Lenson’s piece, and Bieber is a case study in a section about celebrity apologies in a wide-ranging exploration of how we…
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Baba ★★★ — Jewish Renaissance
Halima Habil’s anarchic, endearing clown show has a ball with its audience Does it get more fringe than watching a multilingual clown in a tent? Romanian-Moroccan Muslim-Jewish performer Halima Habil, aka Baba, brings a bizarre and affecting hour to Nicolson Square, complete with lip-syncing suitcases and Dirty Dancing lifts. A lot of the show comprises movement, music and audience participation…
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Folk Marry Kill ★★★★★ — Jewish Renaissance
The comedic musician duo returns to the Fringe with a hilarious, tuneful adventure through marriage and mortality After last year’s acclaimed show Honey Honey Moon Moon, real life couple Micah O’Konis and Marnina Schon, aka Couplet, are back. Just like their previous outing, which referred to the pair’s actual honeymoon at the Fringe, this punnily titled new performance takes us…
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Other world on the South Bank
With a major exhibition by Anish Kapoor running at London’s Hayward Gallery, we speak to the artist about his Mumbai heritage, the horror of the Venice ghetto and the role of art in troubled times Possibly I’m in the Hayward Gallery on London’s South Bank, but it could equally be that I’ve just walked onto the set of 1970s-vintage Doctor…
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A new blue plaque for London — Jewish Renaissance
Pushkin Press works extensively to support Zweig’s reputation in the English-speaking world, reissuing and newly translating his archive, and now holds the writer’s estate. Pushkin publisher Adam Freudenheim relates the resurgence in interest in Zweig to his “nostalgic look at the multi-linguistic and multi-cultural world of pre-World War I Austria-Hungary” that holds a particular interest post-Brexit. However, Freudenheim argues, foremost…
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