OPINION: ‘No one messes with OUR Jews’, the venue told me – then cancelled our shows

On 14th July 2025, Jewish News published an opinion piece I’d written about Jewish performers experiences at the Edinburgh Fringe. I shared how the venue I’d been performing in for the past few years had been incredibly supportive, describing how “I’ve also received kindness and care from peers, venue staff, and the festival team I perform with, the PBH Free Fringe.” It had lovely feedback online and then came out in the print version at the end of the week. I picked up my hard copy when I bought my chopped liver (with a second copy for the archives – aka my mum) and rushed home to cook for Shabbat, casually leaving the paper on the table.

As I skimmed my chicken soup, my phone rang. It was the CEO of the Free Fringe, informing me that our longstanding venue had ejected my show, Ultimate Jewish Mother, as well as my comedy partner Philip Simon’s show Jew-O-Rama, that he created 9 years ago with fellow comedian Aaron Levene. This came as the most enormous shock, that the venue that we both loved, that had been our safe and happy space, that had in fact told me last year that “We’ll look after you, no one messes with OUR Jews”, had decided that having two Jewish shows in their venue was no longer acceptable to them. I looked over at my copy of Jewish News and imagined all of you, the readers, thinking of the venue in the most positive light, while my head was spinning and heart breaking. I can only liken it to telling your mates how fantastic your new partner is, only to find a voicemail dumping you straight afterwards.

The reasons they cited have already been covered in this publication but were centred around the bar staff feeling unsafe knowing that, as British Jewish performers in 2025, we attracted a bit of extra security. What a bizarre take – instead of assuming that any additional eye from the police or a helpline number for CST made their whole venue safer, despite reassurance that there was no expected issue and these were both deterrents and precautionary, they decided it made them feel more at risk. And it’s particularly surprising coming from an alcohol-serving music venue that gets very rowdy on occasion and has its own big, burly bouncers. They claimed that last year there was an increase in threatening graffiti on the toilet doors, forcing to re-paint them every three days. This was a bit of a head-scratcher as, being two Jews in our (I’m going to say late 40s, why not?) we were regular visitors to the facilities. We didn’t see evidence of this – there were no threats towards us or the venue on the doors, and no constant smell or sight of paint. And even if that was the case, there are only a handful of cubicles, so it was hardly the Forth Bridge. They also claimed that one of the shows had held a vigil for a fallen IDF soldier, but retracted this when challenged – I assume because it’s quite hard to prove something that simply didn’t happen.

They could have reached out to us directly – our working relationship goes back to 2018 – but they didn’t and still haven’t. They could have used the CST contact provided and asked for some training around the subject, but they chose not to. Instead, our lovely shows, that are not about politics or the war, were left homeless with 2 weeks to go and everything bought and paid for. Jew-O-Rama, which presents a line-up of Jewish, Jew-ish and non-Jewish acts is, a celebratory showcase of our brilliant comedic bones, and Ultimate Jewish Mother is like a warm, funny, challah scented hug. What a loss to the Fringe.

The cancellation of British Jewish performers such as ourselves, Klezmer band Oi Va Voi, and others, needs to end. It wouldn’t be tolerated for any other minority and nor should it. But both Philip and I are not victims, we are experienced performers. We will dust ourselves off, and whether or not another venue turns up, this will become part of our story and in time, comedy material.