Bananas, Klezmer and tales of Jewish migration

Remember Maurizio Cattelan’s conceptual artwork of a fresh banana duct-taped to a wall, 63 inches above the floor? This is the inspiration for Kazakhstan-born playwright Karina Wiedman’s latest play – both written and directed by her.

In the Eye of the Beholder is a political drama about the absurdity of the art market and how people evaluate another artist’s work. Darkly comic, this one-act play about a robbery in a Soho gallery, is set in the absurd and seductive world of contemporary art and explores value, money and ambition.

Karina came to the UK to study at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, and won the inaugural Woven Voices prize her first play The Anarchist, a play based on the protests in Belarus against the backdrop of the Soviet Union. In this, her latest play, it is the first time she has written a comedy, her previous work having been more serious political plays.

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“I was fascinated by the whole story of Cattelan’s banana, a banana duct taped to a wall, that fetched $6.2 million at auction in New York,” explains Karina, for whom art is very important.

“I was deprived of art when I was younger. We moved from Kazakhstan to Belarus, to an industrial, post-Soviet town, and there was a complete deficit of art,” said Karina, “which is why I am so passionate about it now. My mother has a gallery where she supports local and international artists and I wanted to write a play about it the importance of art and people’s perceptions.”

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Catch In The Eye of The Beholder tonight and tomorrow at Playhouse East

Klezmer fans are in for a treat when celebrated group Buenos Klezmer will be playing at the Radlett Centre on Sunday.

Vocalist Maya Levy will be weaving a fascinating tale of long-ago worlds, accompanied by guitarist Eyal Pik and cellist Mayda Narvey as they play stand-up bass and wonderful melodies. They will be joined by percussionist Mark Greenfield and clarinettist Daniel Gouly for an evening of foot-stomping tune and heart-stopping songs from the shtetls of Eastern Europe and the Sephardic world of Medieval Spain.

The quartet, whose musicians are of both Sephardi and Ashkenazi Jewish backgrounds, decided to form an ensemble to play specifically secular Jewish songs and Klezmer instrumental music, seven years ago. They perform Yiddish & Ladino songs and Klezmer, spanning the breadth of Jewish secular music.

Buenos Klezmer is at The Radlett Centre on 1 November

Strangers In A Strange Land, the third and final show in the Joyfully Jewish trilogy, will be touring London from Sunday.

Featuring five complete short plays, along with four original Jewish songs, the evening will celebrate the stories of Jewish migration. Rachel Gaffin, the inspiration behind the Joyfully Jewish trilogy, says: “The plays tell the stories of Jewish migration, not just from Eastern Europe but also from countries like Egypt, and Russia and are set in both modern and historic times.”

Rachel set up Joyfully Jewish as a theatre company that celebrates performance but leaves politics at the door. “We celebrate Jewish stories and Jewish humour in theatre that is written by Jewish playwrights and performed by Jewish actors,” says Rachel. “This latest series of plays is about arrival, about coming to London or New York. The humour, food and yearning for home are never very far away.”

Director of Echoes Theatre Company Rachel has joined up with THE JEW-ish CABARET for the performances that will be staged in North West London, Wimbledon and Redbridge.

Strangers in a Strange Land is at JW3 on 1 November, New Wimbledon Theatre on 5 November and Redbridge Drama Centre on 8 November