Bad Jews

It may well be called Bad Jews but by the end of this grippingly vitriolic hour and forty minutes of dark comedy it is clearly apparent that this play is a brilliant vehicle for expressing a sense of horror and dismay at the state of the human condition.

Set in a studio apartment in uptown New York three cousins, Jewish, and one WASP lock horns over a piece of jewellery after the death of a grandparent. Delivered with breathtaking verve, and some very fine monologues, they gradually reveal their hands, a passionate clinging to a religious heritage, a fierce disregard for that same heritage, an outsider caught up in the crossfire and a sibling who wants to be left out of the argument.

Rapidly relations deteriorate, with indifference, extremism, seemingly innocent bystander and conscientious objection all playing their part. We laughed heartily, the script is excellently crafted to make you do so, but under the brittle veneer of humour is a powerful story, one that exposes the horror of racism, religious fervor and ethnic superiority.

Ailsa Joy is extraordinary as the impassioned Daphna, Daniel Boyd as Liam gives a brilliant performance, Antonia Kinlay is a perfect gentle foil to their anger and Jos Slovick is the soft connective tissue in this brilliant work, holding the final twist so close to his whole that it comes as a gentle, but disturbing, sigh of relief as the lights finally dim.

Theatre Royal Brighton, 19 October 2015

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