Salome opens in London starring Israeli actress

Israeli theatre company Gesher’s daring new production of Oscar Wilde’s controversial masterpiece Salomé opens tonight at the Haymarket Theatre.

Israeli actor Neta Roth, who stars, says this is a dream come true. When Neta was just 11, she was at home in Tel Aviv, off sick from school.

“I was scrolling through the internet when I happened to see footage of the actor David Tennant performing Shakespeare,” says Neta. “I was transfixed. Here I was, an Israeli, whose language was Hebrew, and I could see and hear him speaking in English. The performance blew my mind. I kept watching and watching, and copied the way he spoke, and how he moved. I knew then that I wanted to be an actress, and my dream was to perform in England and to be as good as him.”

When she was 14 her birthday present was a trip to England with tickets to see David Tennant perform Shakespeare. “After the show I went to the stage door and met him. I told him he was my inspiration, and gave him a book of images I had drawn of him acting.”

On returning to her home in Tel Aviv, Neta was then thrilled to be offered her first acting role, and her theatre career took off. Aged 18, having joined Gesher, she was given a starring role.

“It is so exciting, and I still can’t fathom it all or comprehend the enormity of it.” she says. “It has been an incredible journey. At the time no-one in my family had been involved in the theatre world. People in the industry have been so kind and taught me so much.

“To be starring in a West End show is unbelievable and the role of Salomé is a delicious part for an actress. She is such a wonderful character to play. Salomé is about the power of destruction, about people not being able to help themselves and submitting to their darker urges. Although the play was written many years it still has an important message.”

The play is based on the story of Salomé, stepdaughter of the ruler Herod Antipas, who developed an infatuation with the prophet John the Baptist. When her advances are spurned, Salomé unleashes a deadly dance.

Salomé is billed as “a dark, decadent vision of power and obsession, and a hypnotic, high-stakes, retelling of the biblical tale. Bold, provocative, and drenched in poetic decadence, Salomé is a haunting exploration of power, eroticism and the price of forbidden longing.”

Neta well-known in Israel, and has had numerous leading roles and regular appearances on television and in films, including a leading role in Image of Victory (Netflix Israel), Israel’s biggest budget feature film to date. She won Best Lead Actress at the 2022 Israeli Academy for Film & Television Awards for Home Alone and, after the run at the Haymarket Theatre ends, will be staying in London.  An award-winning playwright and screenwriter for TV, Neta is performing one of her own plays about two hostages (written before the events of October 7) later this year.

Salomé as at Theatre Royal Haymarket until 11 October