THEY SHALL NOT PASS
Given the current swell of antisemitism there was a heartstopping moment from Jez Unwin as Yitzhak Scheinberg, patriarch of a hardworking East End Jewish family whose son Sammy is leaning towards direct action against the British Union of Fascists. Keep away from trouble, the older man says, dreading the “Jewish lightning” arson attacks and the beatings-up. A pogrom surivor, he asserts an ancient grim humility: Jews cannot afford to give their enemies reasons, and “Everything we have is borrowed, they can take it back”. Meanwhile, when the ensemble become an occasional capering chorus of newspaperst the Jewish Chronicle is echoing it in a mockingly rhyming lyric “The Board of Deputeez/ says don’t get involved – it’ll bring us to our knees!”
But doing nothing will not do. Outside, the community chant is “No-one sees eye to eye, but everyone agrees – this is my street!” Irish communist Maraid (Sha Dessi) who works in a Jewish bakery makes common cause with the dockworkers and multicultural immigrants (making sure the audience on three sides is plentifully leafleted) against the thuggish BUF . These march under Mosley with black shirts, red lighting-strike armbands, slogans about foreign masters and ‘honest work for British workers..get rid of the Yids” . Maraid forges a friendship with Joshua Ginsberg’s Sammy. But these are hard starving times for everyone, in 1936, rents are rising ; elsewhere in the tenement building young Len from Lancashire is gradually drawn to the BUF by their promises of work. When the barricades are up, he may be on the wrong side..
This one was always going to be a rouser. With the Merchant of Venice 1936 now up West after Stratford and Wiltons, displaying THEY SHALL NOT PASS at the curtain call , it is grand timing for a fresh fringe musical to remind us of when old perils met old decencies: the Cable Street riot of October 1936 when immigrants, Irish dockers, Jews and indigenous working-class locals refused to let the DUF march through their streets, defying police and thuggery alike.
Tim Gilvin and Alex Kanefsky do it proud, musical numbers ranging from Sammy’s urgent Hamiltonesque rap to mournfully beautiful ballads like Maraid’s “Bread and roses” as she toils through the night inthe bakery. There are barking BUF chants, the yearning cry of the fascist recruit “Let me in!” And of course a great “No Pasaran!”as the communists make common cause with the Spanish Civil war and adopt the defiance for themselves. Adam Lenson directs a vigorous ensemble of eleven (feels like more, with neat doubling and trebling) and Kanefsky’s book – framing it in a modern history guide competing resignedly with a jack-the-ripper tour – carries on beyond the barricade to the aftermath, the complexities within and between families, and a final community effort in the citywide rent strike.
He makes the divisions clear: Sammy, trying to get work which seems sewn up by the Irish dockers, claims to be called “Seamus O”Dublin”. Maraid’s old Irish mother (Debbie Chazen on fierce form) thinks Jews own the banks and doesn’t approve of her daughter “consorting with them” , let alone distributing Commie leaflets. A Black character observes in passing that it’s all very well for people who can change their accent but it’s harder for him.
The vigour and sound of it are overwheming, the messiness and doubling all part of the joy. Ginsberg’s Sammy is a mass of tousled energy, Dessi a powerful musical presence; Unwin’s switching between the role of Jewish patriarch and fascist leader is powerfully uncanny. All power to Southwark and 10 to 4 productions. I hope this one grows and meets wider audiences. Its entire run is sold out, which does the creators and London audiences credit.
Southwarkplayhouse.co.uk to 16 march
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