Jump to content

Seven Jewish Children

Edit links
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Kasaalan (talk | contribs) at 18:27, 13 August 2009 (→‎Praising views: addtion of praising view). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Seven Jewish Children: A Play for Gaza is a controversial 10-minute 2009 play written by British playwright Caryl Churchill,[1] a co-patron of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign, in response to 2008-2009 Israel military strike on Gaza. The play debuted at London's Royal Court Theatre on 10 February 2009 and consists of seven scenes spread over approximately seventy years in which Jewish adults discuss what their children should be told. Churchill stated anyone who wishes to produce the play to do so gratis, "so long as they do a collection for people in Gaza at the end", and described her play as a "political event". The play has divided critical and political opinion among both Jewish and non-Jewish community and journals. While it has been criticized as antisemitic and a one-sided anti-Israel propaganda by some parties, mainly by Jewish community leaders and Jewish journalists. The arguments are denied by the playwright while others theatre critics who reviewed the play including Jewish journalists who also critical of Israel politics, feel that the play has been misrepresented and praise its portrayal of the mood in Israel.

Description

The play debuted at London's Royal Court Theatre on 10 February 2009 and written by successful playwright Caryl Churchill, who is also co-patron of Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

The play consists of seven scenes spread over approximately seventy years in which Jewish adults discuss what their children should be told. It is intended to be performed in only ten minutes.[2] The dialogue is a kind of litany, with the sentences beginning with the words: "Tell her...".[3] The opening lines, for example, are:

Tell her it’s a game
Tell her it’s serious
But don’t frighten her


Don’t tell her they’ll kill her [4]

Although Churchill indicates that the different scenes concern different children and therefore the speakers change between them, she leaves it for each production to decide how many adults take part in each scene and how the lines are shared between them.[4]

The first two scenes concern the Holocaust, featuring one family that are hiding from Nazis and another wondering how to tell their child of the many family members who have been killed. Later scenes are about episodes in the development of the Israeli-Arab conflict: one family is migrating to Jerusalem, another wondering what to tell their daughter about Palestinian Arabs, the next discusses an Israeli victory, and the next are speaking as the Israeli West Bank barrier is being built and when a Palestinian child has been shot. The culminating scene is during the 2008–2009 Israel–Gaza conflict and contains the only lengthy speech of the play:

Tell her, tell her about the army, tell her to be proud of the army. Tell her about the family of dead girls, tell her their names why not, tell her the whole world knows why shouldn’t she know? Tell her there’s dead babies, did she see babies? tell her she’s got nothing to be ashamed of. Tell her they did it to themselves. Tell her they want their children killed to make people sorry for them, tell her I’m not sorry for them, tell her not to be sorry for them, tell her we’re the ones to be sorry for, tell her they can’t talk suffering to us. Tell her we’re the iron fist now, tell her it’s the fog of war, tell her we won’t stop killing them till we’re safe, tell her I laughed when I saw the dead policemen, tell her they’re animals living in rubble now, tell her I wouldn’t care if we wiped them out, the world would hate us is the only thing, tell her I don’t care if the world hates us, tell her we’re better haters, tell her we’re chosen people, tell her I look at one of their children covered in blood and what do I feel? tell her all I feel is happy it’s not her.[5]

Mission

According to Churchill, the play is not just a theatre event, it is a political event.[6] Churchill has stated that she will allow anyone who wishes to produce the play to do so gratis, "so long as they do a collection for people in Gaza at the end".[1] Proceeds are sent to Medical Aid for Palestinians, a medical aid and political advocacy organization. [7][8]

The playwright has made the entire script of the play available as a downloadable PDF on the website of the Royal Court Theatre.[9][10] A one-woman performance of the play is also available online from The Guardian's website.[11][12][13]

Public reception

Controversy over Royal Court Theatre policies

The Royal Court Theatre has been criticized for violating the rule observed by Nicholas Hytner at the National Theatre that a play that is entirely populated by, and is critical of, a religious minority, can only be staged at the National Theatre if it is written by a member of that minority.[6] Further criticism centered on the fact that while Associate Director of the Royal Court Theater, Ramin Gray has stated that he would be reluctant to stage a play critical of Islam,[14] the theatre did stage a play critical of some Jews.[15]

Critical views

The Sunday Times's Christopher Hart, condemning the play for its "straitjacketed political orthodoxy," criticized Churchill's "ludicrous and utterly predictable lack of even-handedness," typical, he said, of the "enclosed, fetid, smug, self-congratulating and entirely irrelevant little world of contemporary political theatre."[16]

Theater critic Jan Dalley of the Financial Times described the play as "agitprop" harking back to long-discredited revolutionary ideas.[17]

The Observer's Susannah Clapp said:

"[T]hough there's no mystery about Churchill's reaction to the Israeli bombing - she's against it - she produces more than an agitprop shout: this is a far more substantial piece of work than her invective against America and Britain's "special relationship" staged three years ago."[18]

Allegations of anti-Semitism and demonising Israel

A public debate ensued over accusations that the play is anti-Semitic and one-sidedly anti-Israel,[19] [2][20][21][22], that is mainly by the Jewish community leaders and Jewish journalists, contending that it violates the rule that "a play that is critical of, and entirely populated by, characters from one community, can be defended only if it is written by a member of that community".[23]

Bret Stephens in the Wall Street Journal, called the play as a "trite agitprop" and wrote:

"Anti-semitism used to be taboo, but that's been eroded by an obsessive criticism of Israel that seems to borrow freely from the classic anti-Semitic repertoire ("tell her they're filth") while adopting the brilliant trick of treating Jewish victimization as a moral ideal from which modern Israel has sadly deviated." [24]

The Board of Deputies of British Jews, invited to preview the play, accused Churchill of being "Anti-Israel".[1] Jonathan Hoffman, co-vice chairman of the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and Ireland, called the play "a libellous and despicable demonisation of Israeli parents and grandparents" and expressed fear that it would "stoke the fires of antisemitism". He added that the play is a modern blood libel drawing on old anti-Semitic myths.[20] Jeffrey Goldberg of the Atlantic Monthly also calls the play a blood libel and said it was "the mainstreaming of the worst anti-Jewish stereotypes -- for instance, that Jews glory in the shedding of non-Jewish blood -- is upon us".[25] Columnist Melanie Phillips wrote that the play is "An open vilification of the Jewish people... drawing upon an atavistic hatred of the Jews” and called it an "open incitement to hatred”.[20] Patrick Healy from The New York Times wrote that the play "at times paints heartless images of Israelis."[2]

Sixty well-known British Jews published a letter published in the Daily Telegraph claiming that Seven Jewish Children reinforces "false stereotypes" because it depicts Israelis as "inhuman triumphalists" who teach their children that "Arabs must be hated". Signatories included Professor Geoffrey Alderman, the Michael Gross Professor of Modern History at the University of Buckingham; Greville Janner, Baron Janner of Braunstone, the Labour peer and former president of the Board of Deputies; Maureen Lipman, the actress; Ronald Harwood, the Oscar-winning screenwriter; Tracy-Ann Oberman, the actress who starred in EastEnders.[26]

Playwright Israel Horovitz, who wrote a play in response to Churchill entitled What Strong Fences Make, argued that while it is possible to criticize Israel without being anti-Semitic and to criticize Palestine without being anti-Arab:

Those who criticize Jews in the name of criticizing Israel, as Ms. Churchill seems to have done in her play, step over an unacceptable boundary and must be taken to task.[27]

Praising views

The Guardian theatre critic Michael Billington writes that the play captures the mood that has overtaken Israel, where security "has become the pretext for indiscriminate slaughter."[28] "Mr. Billington’s sympathetic review describes the context of the cryptic play and points to some of the lines from the script that have disturbed readers like Mr. Goldberg." [29]

The Times's Dominic Maxwell praised the play for an "impassioned response to the events in Gaza that is elliptical, empathetic and illuminating."[30]

In The Saudi Gazette, Susannah Tarbush wrote that the play “succinctly dramatizes the tragedies and ironies of history for both sides” and builds to what she calls “a devastating final scene set during the Gaza onslaught.”

Opposing views to anti-Semitism allegations

The Royal Court Theatre "categorically" denied that the play is antisemitic.[19] Charlotte Higgins, The Guardian's chief arts writer, defended the work by saying:

The play did not strike me as antisemitic and I do not now believe it to be antisemitic.... I cleave strongly to the view that it is possible to be critical of Israel without being antisemitic, and I do not believe that Churchill is making or otherwise implying universal claims about the Jewish people in this play.[31]

Noting the comments by the Board of Deputies, in The Nation, award-winning dramatist and essayist Tony Kushner and academic journalist and critic Alisa Solomon, both Jewish American critics of modern Israeli politics, described the play as "dense, beautiful, elusive and intentionally indeterminate", noted that "Any play about the crisis in the Middle East that doesn't arouse anger and distress has missed the point"[32] and wrote:

"We emphatically disagree. We think Churchill's play should be seen and discussed as widely as possible... To see anti-Semitism here is to construe erroneously the words spoken by the worst of Churchill's characters as a statement from the playwright about all Jews as preternaturally filled with a viciousness unique among humankind. But to do this is, again, to distort what Churchill wrote"[32]

Churchill's defence of the play

Writing in response to an article by Howard Jacobson which sought to place Seven Jewish Children and other criticism of Israel in the context of a rise in anti-Semitism,[33] Churchill defended herself from several of the complaints against her.

Howard Jacobson seems to see the play from a very particular perspective so that everything is twisted. The characters are “covert and deceitful”, they are constructing a “parallel hell” to Hitler’s Europe, they are “monsters who kill babies by design”. I don’t recognise the play from that description.

Throughout the play, families try to protect children. Finally, one of the parents explodes, saying, “No, stop preventing her from knowing what’s on the TV news”. His outburst is meant, in a small way, to shock during a shocking situation. Is it worse than a picture of Israelis dancing for joy as smoke rises over Gaza? Or the text of Rabbi Shloyo Aviner’s booklet distributed to soldiers saying cruelty is sometimes a good attribute?

...

Finally, the blood libel. I find it extraordinary that, because the play talks about the killing of children in Gaza, I am accused of reviving the medieval blood libel that Jews killed Christian children and consumed their blood. The character is not “rejoicing in the murder of little children”. He sees dead children on television and feels numb and defiant in his relief that his own child is safe. He believes that what has happened is justified as self-defence. Howard Jacobson may agree. I don’t, but it doesn’t make either of them a monster, or me anti-Semitic. [34]

Productions

Royal Court Theatre production

The cast for the play's premier production in February 2009 at London's Royal Court Theated consisted of Ben Caplan, Jack Chissick, David Horovitch, Daisy Lewis, Ruth Posner, Samuel Roukin, Jennie Stoller, Susannah Wise, and Alexis Zegerman. The play was directed by Dominic Cooke who is Jewish himself.[6][9] The same cast gave a performance of the play introdced by Churchill herself as part of the Two Plays for Gaza fund-raising event at the Hackney Empire on the 21st of May 2009.[35]

At the Royal Court the play was staged following Marius von Mayenburg’s The Stone, a play about a German family who live in a house taken from vanished Jews and who grapple with the Nazi past of their family and nation.[16]

Other productions

The play was performed at the Brecht Forum in New York on 16 March in an evening which also featured the words of Rachel Corrie, and a talk by members of the organization Combatants for Peace. A donation for medical aid to Palestine was taken at the end of the play's performance, which featured Kathleen Chalifant.[citation needed]

A copy of the play was sent to the BBC. Jeremy Howe, the commissioning drama editor for Radio 4, said that both he and Mark Damazer, the channel's controller, considered the play a "brilliant piece", but agreed that it could not be broadcast because of the BBC's policy of editorial impartiality.[36]

A rehearsed reading took place at the State Library of Victoria in Melbourne on 18 May 2009 at a fund-raising event for Australians for Palestine [37]. As a result of her participation, the Jewish actress Miriam Margoyles had an invitation withdrawn to perform in front of residents at a home run by the Australian Jewish Care.[38] Max Gillies who is married to prominent Australian Jewess Louise Adler was another performer in the reading.

A Hebrew translation of the play was staged in Tel-Aviv on 11 June 2009. It was directed online via Skype and video by Samieh Jabbarin, who has been under house arrest for four months [39]. The play was also performed at the American University in Cairo, Egypt, directed by a Palestinian student as part of an advanced directing class.[citation needed]

In May 2009, the city of Liverpool withdrew public funding from a theater festival that had scheduled Seven Jewish Children after the producers refused to also perform another play, Seven Other Children by Richard Stirling of Evergreen Theatrical Productions. Development coordinator for the festival Madeline Heneghan remarked that since "The program is planned months in advance." the request was "unrealistic at this point". [40]

The Rude Guerrilla Theatre Co. of Orange County, California, announced that it will be producing the play.[41] The New York Theater Workshop and the Public Theater are said to be considering a New York City production.[2] Both of them have performed plays by Churchill before.[2]

Plays produced in response

On March 25, 2009 Theater J and Forum Theater in Washington, D.C., followed their readings with a reading of "Seven Palestinian Children,"[42] a response by Deb Margolin; the script is available online.[43] The performance also included a reading of "The Eighth Child" by Robbie Gringras. [44]

London's New End Theatre produced Seven Other Children, a new play by Richard Stirling.[45]

The New York playwright Israel Horovitz wrote a new short play entitled What Strong Fences Make, arguing "another voice needed to be heard" against Churchill's play, that he claims as "offensive, distorted and manipulative".[46] Horovitz has offered to allow any theater that wishes to produce What Strong Fences Make free of royalties, as long as a collection is taken up following all performances for the benefit of ONE Family Fund, a charity that assists children wounded in attacks on Israel.[46][47]

See also

References

  1. ^ a b c "Caryl Churchill is accused of 'anti-Semitism'" Tim Walker". The Daily Telegraph. 13 Feb 2009. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  2. ^ a b c d e Workshop May Present Play Critical of Israel. By Patrick Healy. The New York Times. Published February 17, 2009. Cite error: The named reference "Pat" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  3. ^ "Is Caryl Churchill's play Seven Jewish Children antisemitic?" Charlotte Higgins. Culture Online Blog, Guardian.co.uk, 18 February 2009.
  4. ^ a b Caryl Churchill (2009) Seven Jewish Children, p.2, London, Nick Hern Books
  5. ^ Caryl Churchill (2009) Seven Jewish Children, p.7, London, Nick Hern Books
  6. ^ a b c Nathan, John (February 12, 2009). "Review: Seven Jewish Children". The Jewish Chronicle. {{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  7. ^ Readings and Talks for Pro-Gaza Playlet,PATRICK HEALY, March 15, 2009, New York Times [1]
  8. ^ "MAP's London HQ is responsible for fundraising and directing the regional teams work. It also is where MAP's events and advocacy work takes place." [2] accessed May 27, 2009
  9. ^ a b Royal Court Theatre information on play
  10. ^ Nathan, John. "Seven Jewish Children - A Play for Gaza, at the Royal Court: Hot Topic", Theater News Online, January 29 2009
  11. ^ Caryl Churchill (2009) Seven Jewish Children read by Jennie Stoller, Guardian Online, April 25, 2009
  12. ^ Brown, Mark, Churchill's Children: Guardian reading for Caryl Churchill's Gaza play, The Guardian, April 25, 2009
  13. ^ The Guardian, 1 May 2009, The blood libel brought up to date
  14. ^ Whittle, Peter. "Islam: The Silence of the Arts; The arts are increasingly censoring themselves when it comes to Islam," 2007, New Culture Forum
  15. ^ Romain, Jonathan. "Selective bravery is not very brave", Guardian, 20 February 2009
  16. ^ a b Hart, Christopher. "The Stone and Seven Jewish Children: A Play For Gaza, The Sunday Times, February 15, 2009
  17. ^ "Reality bites the idealists", Jan Dalley, Financial Times February 13 2009 [3]
  18. ^ "Say it, but not so loud, The Observer, February 15, 2009 [4]
  19. ^ a b Higgins, Charlotte. "Churchill's Gaza play accused of antisemitism", The Guardian, 18 February 2009]
  20. ^ a b c Symons, Leon. "Outrage over 'demonising' play for Gaza," The Jewish Chronicle, 12 February 2009 Cite error: The named reference "Symons" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  21. ^ Goldberg, Jeffrey. "The Royal Court Theatre's Blood Libel", Atlantic Monthly 9 February 2009
  22. ^ "The Stone and Seven Jewish Children", The Sunday Times, 15 February 2009
  23. ^ Nathan, John. "Seven Jewish Children", The Jewish Chronicle, 12 February 2009
  24. ^ Wall Street Journal
  25. ^ "The Royal Court Theatre's Blood Libel", Jeffrey Goldberg, Atlantic Monthly 09 Feb 2009 [5]
  26. ^ "Prominent Jews accuse Royal Court play of demonising Israelis; A coalition of prominent British Jews has condemned the Royal Court Theatre for showing a play that is said to demonise Israelis," Martin Beckford, The Daily Telegraph, 18 Feb 2009 [6]
  27. ^ Israel Horovitz, Jerusalem Post, April 19, 2009, Why I wrote 'What Strong Fences Make'
  28. ^ Billington, Michael. "Seven Jewish Children Royal Court, London", The Guardian, Feb. 11, 2009
  29. ^ http://thelede.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/02/18/is-a-play-about-gaza-anti-semitic-read-the-script/?ref=theater
  30. ^ "Seven Jewish Children at Royal Court, SW1, The Times, February 13, 2009 [7]
  31. ^ Higgins, Charlotte. The Guardian, 18 February 2009 "Israel and the Palestinians"
  32. ^ a b "Tell her the truth, Tony Kushner and Alisa Solomon, The Nation, 26 March 2009
  33. ^ Howard Jacobson, "Let’s see the 'criticism' of Israel for what it really is", The Independent, 18 February 2009, [8]
  34. ^ Caryl Churchill, "My play is not anti-Semitic", The Independent, 21 February 2009 Letters: Jacobson on Gaza:Jacobson and Gaza: the debate continues
  35. ^ Tony Benn introduces Two Plays for Gaza advertisement for evening on Stop the War Coalition website.
  36. ^ Ben Dowell. "BBC rejects play on Israel's history for impartiality reasons", The Guardian, 16 March 2009, accessed 31 March 2009
  37. ^ Andra Jackson Controversial play about Israel has desired effect, The Age May 19, 2009
  38. ^ Sophie Tedmanson Miriam Margolyes rejected over appearance in 'anti-Semitic' play, The Times, May 12 2009.
  39. ^ Shohat, Zipi. "Controversial play 'Seven Jewish Children' to go on stage in Tel Aviv". Retrieved 2009-06-12. {{cite web}}: Text "Haaretz" ignored (help). The play was directed by the Palestinian director Samieh Jabbarin via Skype from his house detention in Umm al-Fahm.
  40. ^ Haaretz, 17/05/2009, Liverpool cuts funding for festival that includes 'anti-Semitic' play, Cnaan Liphshiz [9]
  41. ^ "OC theater to stage controversial Gaza play", Mike Boehm, Los Angeles Times February 18[clarification needed], 2009 [10]
  42. ^ http://forumtheatredc.org/Seven%20Jewish.shtml
  43. ^ [11]
  44. ^ Aaron Leibel, Washington Jewish Week, D.C. Jewish theater director defends reading of anti-Israel play
  45. ^ Jerusalem Post, May 10, 2009, Playwright counters anti-Israel play
  46. ^ a b Jerusalem Post, 19 April 2009, US, UK Playwrights Write Separate Responses To 'Seven Jewish Children'
  47. ^ What to tell the children, May 7, 2009, Socialist Worker http://socialistworker.org/2009/05/07/what-to-tell-the-children

External links

Retrieved from "https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Seven_Jewish_Children&oldid=307788164"