The Yiddish Queen Lear

New York in the late 1930’s. A once-famous Yiddish actress gives her theatre business over to her three daughters. A story of love, infidelity, betrayal and exile inspired by Shakespeare’s King Lear, this new play with music examines the moment when Jewish East European and American cultures mix on the eve of the Holocaust. Pascal shows the clash and connections between two worlds in a vibrant, funny and tragic play. The Yiddish Queen Lear is a free reworking of Shakespeare and a homage to the lost world of Yiddish theatre. The language of the shtetl, given dramatic form in Eastern Europe and exported by emigrants to New York, gave voice to a rich and varied theatrical tradition until its culture was wiped out during the war. Pascal takes us on a whistlestop tour of the full range, from sparkling music-hall comedy and plaintive song to improvisation, while showing an endearing lack of reverence for her subject. The Yiddish Queen Lear opened in April 1999 at the Southwark Playhouse, London, and again in September 2001 at the Bridewell Theatre.
A fascinating and enjoyable evening The Guardian; This is a raw play…prepare to leave exhausted and angry TNT Magazine