Churchill's Seven Jewish Children - Is This Play Anti-Semitic? — Page 2

Also, Fiddler SHOWED the horrible things going on, it didn't just talk about them.

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But no one said she had to.

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Seven Jewish Children already has been performed in Tel Aviv at Rabin Square, in Hebrew.
Caryl Churchill's Seven Jewish Children staged in Tel Aviv

There was recently some controversy surrounding this play in Australia. A Jewish actor, Miriam Margoyles, had her appearance at a Jewish welfare fundraiser cancelled because she was appearing in the play.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/arts/charity-rejects-actor-over-antisemitic-play/2009/05/11/1241893918972.html

http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/arts/bollocks-jewish-actor-defends-contentious-play/2009/05/07/1241289313892.html

http://www.theage.com.au/news/opinion/letters/issue-is-of-context-not-the-theatre/2009/05/12/1241893979264.html

http://www.theage.com.au/news/entertainment/arts/critique-of-israel-not-antisemitism-margolyes/2009/05/13/1241894015914.html

Updated On: 6/19/09 at 07:36 AM

I think this thread is proof that Churchill succeeded in what she set out to do by writing this play.

A Good Nightmare Comes So Rarely,
P

There was recently some controversy surrounding this play in Australia. A Jewish actor, Miriam Margoyles, had her appearance at a Jewish welfare fundraiser cancelled because she was appearing in the play.

Miriam Margoyles often appears in support of Palestinians, as does Mike Leigh (also Jewish). She is highly vocal in her denunciation of Israeli policies.

Caryl Churchill is part of the Palestine Solidarity Campaign.

Finally, the Guardian is Britain's left-wing broadsheet, which should give you some idea why it is giving the play so much coverage.

"I think this thread is proof that Churchill succeeded in what she set out to do by writing this play."

To do what? Call into question her credibility by proffering Anti-Semitism? Require a review of her works to see to what degree they may also contain Anti-Semitism? Cause a scrutiny of her life to determine any way she has promoted Anti-Semitism by speech, writing or association? Diminish her life's work as a playwright? Lose her credibility as an intelligent, informed, fair-minded person? Lose her credibility with regard to portraying history with any accuracy?

I just don't see a plus side here.

© 2009 nomdeplume by pseudonym, all rights reserved

Updated On: 6/23/09 at 06:16 PM

No Pgenre, a playwright has a responsibility to this generation, and to those who read their work in the future, which far exceeds provocation.

I am not with you there.

© 2009 nomdeplume by pseudonym, all rights reserved

Updated On: 6/23/09 at 06:35 PM

You must be quite a bit older than me, nomdeplume, because in the age of Spiedi (pronounced SPY-dee and not to be confused with a marinated meat kabob -(or should it?)) I think that's the MOST we can ask our authors to do at this late date, to provoke thought.

In an age of bland conformity and grave political/religious fear (our new president an excellent example of that, and the only positive thing you can say about the man before him was he was fearless, ignorantly so, but fearless nonetheless), in particular. I won't even begin on the PC police running rampant and trying to thwart anything remotely outside the box, like this play.

You do realize 17 of the top 20 shows on television are unscripted and 3/4 of the shows on Broadway are unoriginal (based of movies/jukebox musicals)? The writer is dead in our society, if you can even call it that, and for any PLAYwright to write something so controversial AND politically-charged as to be a Top Headline is to be commended whether or not you agree with what the playwright is saying, if only because it keeps theatre momentarily in the cultural zeitgeist (and a good piece of theatre at that). Face it, without this play the biggest theatre story of the year would be Bret Michael's getting injured at the Tony's (an indictment of the theatre in general in and of itself).

But what does being a part of the cultural zeitgeist truly imply... can you truly be IN something and not OF it? And isn't it really not true to call what exists in this country a culture or a civilization (certainly not a society), anyway? From what I've seen in my 24 years, this country hasn't really been a culture since the internet came around.

Bottom line: it's not a question I'm willing to answer, nor one that Churchill will (or should). I frankly don't think a play can really be anti-semetic, it can only be PERFORMED as such.

Nonetheless, this is a fascinating subject for dicussion and I thank nomdeplume for making it its own topic!

P

P.S. I totally agree it's second-tier Churchill, but I shan't be too critical because I've put my foot in my mouth in the past when pre-judging her work only later to find I missed something that changes my entire perception of the enterprise.

P.P.S. For any culinary connosieurs on this thread (which I know there's at least one!) the "Spiedie" (pronounced SPEE-DEE) is a meat kabob (chicken or lamb) known for a particular marinade (Salimeda Sauce being avialible in many East Coast grocery stores) invented by the Salimeda (the granddaughter of whom I performed in BRIGAYDOON (sic) with in highschool) family in my hometown Binghamton, NY.

Updated On: 6/19/09 at 06:55 PM

Tony Kushner has adamantly defended Churchill's piece, and the article he published in The Nation several months ago has some interesting insights.
Tell Her the Truth

Pgenre, I do hear your unhappiness at the level of cultural debate we presently have within a lot of the "arts" in this country.

I appreciate your having this brought this play to my attention in the Absurdist thread.

I may disagree with you on things but I would fight for your right to express and share your opinion.

I get what you're saying, P, but as I pointed out in another thread the other day, Plato also used to grouse about the younger generation. Complaining about "these kids today" is, clearly, nothing new. But it's not the fault of younger people that language has devolved, it's the lack of value placed on language by the culture. George W. Bush was more than twice your age and mangling the language left and right, and he probably didn't even know how to access the internets.

Plus, I like Miley Cyrus.

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YES! THE JEWISH WIFE! YES!

I try to avoid pretentiousness while here (believe it or not) so I tend not to make as many Brecht references as I may like, but I thought the same thing in reading this months ago! I think Churchill was doing almost exactly what Brecht was trying to do in THE JEWISH WIFE (and MOTHER COURAGE AND HER CHILDREN) and that is to empart the PARANOIA that results from the politics/religion moreso than the relative merits of the actual politics or religion itself. Once again, I am desperately trying to remain mum on the Marxist or Brechtian reading of the text so I won't answer the topical question, but I think the answer is that the play is not anti-semetic but it READS as such and may be PERCEIVED as such. In PERFORMANCE, for which this was written, one may get a much different understanding of the material. And that one-woman reading, while thrilling, isn't the way in which the play is really meant to be performed... either way, that Kushner article just made my brain about EXPLODE after considering the notions brought up here.

Now it's time for a drink... or whatever. Cheers to all who've made this thread so fascinating (so far)!

P

P.S. Coming off of Namo's Cyrus confession - I like Flo Rida. But not as a ringtone, ever. "Halloween" by John Carpenter on the other hand... (the amount of people who have JUMPED when hearing that music is truly indicative of the impact the media has on our society... or at least the impact HALLOWEEN, that Argento-rip-off film (it's almost shot-for-shot PROFUNDO RUSSO) has had.

Updated On: 6/19/09 at 08:03 PM