(seen at the afternoon performance on 19th February 2023)
Alex Edelman was born into a religious Jewish family in Boston USA. Part of a large community, attending a religious school; yet despite the security of his surroundings he still felt that in society “there are degrees of white.”
Now a successful comedy writer living in New York and writing for BBC Radio (ask those too old for podcasts), he is questioning his “whiteness.” How fortunate, then, that a twitter invitation to a meeting where others are doing likewise comes his way...
Thing is, Alex has long been the target of anti-Semites on Twitter, and the invitation came from one of them. Still, what has he got to lose if he turns up at the meeting?
From the experience Edelman gets almost 90 minutes of story material. Less a play, more an extended stand-up set where the central idea is supplemented with a couple of 20 minute diversions, the result is a torrent of anecdotes exploring his life experiences from several unexpected angles.
Edelman himself is a fast-talking ball of energy pausing only to swig water and bring on and off extra wooden stools to make his point about semi-circles. So alert, he is happy to riff off the audience as crisp (not chips here, Mr E) packets rustle, phones ring, and one of his relative’s friends gives a cheer at a name-check.
In fact, even the monkey got in on the act for nodding to a question about whether us Brits understood the concept of one room in the house kept “just for entertaining guests on special occasions.” Indeed, the “front parlour” is well known and as common here as in the land of Uncle Sam.
There’s very little time for either performer or watchers to draw breath. The jokes come thick and fast, would you believe it. Some dodgy, some clever and almost all unexpected and original. He is better than the simple “link-back” and uses only one really obvious mis-direction, which stands out simply due to the quality of the rest of the writing.
Pieces of this jigsaw fall into place with the ease of someone doing the show since 2022 across the States, and probably working on it for around two and a half years. For anyone unfamiliar with Jewish cultural references, Edelman explains them as he goes, so there isn’t a gap in the picture at all.
To say more would compromise the enjoyment of anyone lucky enough to catch the final week of the run at the Menier. A witty confrontation of cultural conflict, with plenty to say about tolerance, intolerance and irrational misunderstandings about lifestyles from high holidays to sporting events.
4 stars.
Photo credit: Alastair Muir. Used by kind permission.