A family, thrown together and arguing. No, I’m not talking about Christmas – come on, there must have been a little ‘discussion’ at yours too – but the St James Theatre’s latest production, Bad Jews.
Given the show’s title and subject, maybe Christmas is not the most appropriate occasion with which to draw parallels. But the production, which was described by the Financial Times as “Vivid, raw, brilliant” when it played at Bath’s Ustinov Studio last year, does deal with a disagreeable family drawn together.
Here, though, it is death rather than festivities that provides the catalyst for the mini-reunion, and an heirloom with religious significance that lights the blue touch paper for emotional fireworks of New Year’s Eve proportions.
Ahead of the show’s first London previews next week, the company allowed Robert Workman into the rehearsal room to capture the sepia-tinged mood of Gina Bramhill, Joe Coen, Ilan Goodman and Jenna Augen, who won the UK Theatre Award for Best Supporting Performance for her work in Bad Jews last year.