Seven Other Children has been penned by Richard Stirling (pictured) as a response to Caryl Churchill's Gaza play. Churchill has been accused of peddling anti-semitism with her play. The charge seems to revolve around an interpretation of the play sees all Jewish people as somehow being charged with, and responsible for the slaughter in Gaza earlier this year.
But of course the play does no such thing. The problem, to the extent that there is one, arises from the fact that Israel itself describes itself as 'the Jewish state' when of course it is no such thing, given that there is a growing minority of Jewish people that have no truck with Israel and its oppression and warmongering. I haven't seen this new play or had the opportunity to read a transcript but a review of sorts appeared in one of my local papers here in north London and is reproduced in full below.
In tonight's Evening Standard Stirling says that Cooke [Dominic Cooke, artistic director at the Royal Court Theatre] "cited works by Shakespeare and Ibsen as examples of how theatre cannot stand on rules of balance" but goes on to to proclaim, contradictorily, that in the case of Seven Jewish Children, "This is an argument with which I would normally agree, but which I do not accept can be sustained over Ms Churchill's eight-minute polemic." Is that because you disagree with her politically?
Cooke has now threatened to sue Stirling if he refers on stage to the defence of the Royal Court's staging of Churchill's play that he put forward after criticism about the 'lack of balance' in the play.
I suspect Stirling's play wilfully, or otherwise - that's to say through ignorance, misses the point of Seven Jewish Children - that those who have endured the most appalling oppression are now carrying out their own oppression of others, and all in the name of defending a state that has turned into the opposite of its original supposed raison d'etre. If only someone had told the Europeans and Americans that another people already lived in historic Palestine when they handed it over to the Zionists.
By Francine Wolfisz
When Caryl Churchill staged her eight-minute play Seven Jewish Children at the Royal Court Theatre in February, it divided critics and sparked allegations of anti-Semitism.
Now author and actor Richard Stirling has written what he terms his “theatrical response” in the form of Seven Other Children, which opens this week in Hampstead.
Employing the same format as Seven Jewish Children, the response comprises of seven scenes in eight minutes with a cast of nine, which includes Simona Armstrong, known from BBC 1’s How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?
Richard, whose other written works include a bestselling autobiography of Julie Andrews, says he felt compelled to create Seven Other Children after watching a performance of the controversial play.
In seven vignettes, Caryl Chuchill’s piece narrates 70 years of history, from the Holocaust to the present-day conflict in Gaza, through the eyes of Jewish adults discussing what they should tell their children.
The 42-year-old playwright, who lives in central London, explains: “I had heard various disquieting reports about the play and I wanted to see it. When I did, I could understand the reaction.
“I also felt that it was significant that it was called seven “Jewish” not “Israeli” children. For me, that seemed to tilt the scales too much in one direction.”
He adds: “The audience were largely not there to be challenged, but rather to have their prejudices confirmed, and when I stood in the bar afterwards there were comments being made about Jews, not Israelis. Now, is that something that should be encouraged in audience members?”
Richard, who is not Jewish, also criticised Churchill’s work for being “an incomplete narrative”, adding that, “a play in eight minutes is not a debate, it’s just an opportunity to spill your spleen.”
Believing that the piece needed a theatrical response, particularly in light of Churchill’s statement that it was as much theatre as a “political event”, Richard first wrote to Royal Court artistic director Dominic Cook. He replied in a letter to Richard that no balance was needed, stating, “Are A Doll’s House or King Lear fair?”
Richard says: “No response was needed for drama, but this was not a normal piece of drama. It was free of charge and put on by the Royal Court at their own expense to benefit Churchill’s chosen charity, Medical Aid for Palestinians.
“So the assumption was that the Royal Court was lining up behind Caryl not just as an artist, but also as a political activist.”
Spurred on by the feeling that the Royal Court had been “unfair in its favour”, Richard set about researching into the history of the Middle East conflict and wrote Seven Other Children.
The play references such historical events as the British exit from the Palstine Mandate, the Arab-Israeli war of 1948, the Six Day War of 1967 and the recent conflict in Gaza.
As Richard sees it, “the tragedy of the situation in that part of the world is largely due to the miseducation of generations and the cementing of attitudes based not just on politics, but also ancient prejudices.”
Now under the direction of Simone Vause, with the artistic advice of north London actress Maureen Lipman, Richard says he is looking forward to seeing his play on stage at the New End Theatre.
The playwright tells me: “I’ve said what I wanted to say and we have an extremely strong cast, from all different backgrounds, including the Middle East, secular and religious,” adds Richard. “I believe there is a plurality to my cast and my play.”
Richard adds: “What I have written is something vibrant and quite pertinent and I hope that people like me, who felt quite alone after seeing Caryl Churchill’s play, are given some heart by this response.”
Seven Other Children arrives at New End Theatre, Hampstead, from Tuesday, May 5 to Saturday, May 16, 9.50pm. Free. Details: 020 7592 9666 or www.newendtheatre.co.uk
From the Haringey Independent
Francine Wolfisz has formed her opinion based on the facts one can obtain from the main stream press narrative. She should try History Upside Down by David Meir-Levi who footnotes each of his facts to show the source.
ReplyDeleteThe Soviets, through the Romanian Ceausescu, were successful in getting Yassir Arafat to reframe his narrative from a goal of annihilating the Jews or driving them into the sea, to liberating the Palestinian people -- a people that never was. See Red Horizons written by the head of Romanian intelligence..
In the 1920 Treaty of Sevres, the Ottomans reliquished most of their Empire to the Allies of WWI. The Allies created 21 Arab or Muslim states out of 99% of it. The remaining 1% was to go to the Jews for a national homeland. Some 3/4ths of that was split off to create still another Arab state east of the Jordan River.
What was left had been a malarial wasteland prior to the first Jewish major immigration in 1880. Jerusalem had had a majority Jewish population since 1864 but the remainder of the land languished. It was not until the Jews improved the land by investment and labor and improved the economy that massive immigration of Arabs from adjacent states commenced. Since 1950 some 261 new Arab settlements have been created but you never hear of them. They are filled with Egyptians, Iraqis, Lebanese who ipso facto become Palestinians.
Yes, there were a few Arabs outside Jerusalem, but not many. That is why in the Treaty of Sevres, in the transfer of sovereignty to Britain in trust for a national homeland for the jews, they were mindful of requiring the Jews to give due concern to the civil and religious rights of the Arabs.
With some care to defer forming an opinion until one has learned some facts, the view that the "Palestinian"s are victims may not be formed.
There have been 261 new Arab settlements in the West Bank since 1950. They are filled with Arabs from adjacent states who ipso facto become "Palestinians". Have you heard of them?
The Arabs renamed Judea and Samaria as "The West Bank" because wouldn't it look silly to say that the Jews are illegally occupying Judea.