Controversial play in Sydney drama final
The controversial play “Seven Jewish Children” which spans Israel’s history from the Holocaust to the 2008/9 Gaza War seen from the perspective of children is one of twelve finalists in this year’s Sydney’s Short+Sweet drama festival.
Seven Jewish Children
The play’s full title is “Seven Jewish Children: A Play for Gaza” was written by English playwright Caryl Churchill who has made a condition of performance the presence of a bucket for donations to the Gaza Hospital.
This will be the play’s fourth performance in Australia. It invoked controversy when forst perormed in Melbourne featuring well-known actors Max Gillies and Miriam Margolyes. It featured at last year’s Limmud-Oz in Sydney performed by an all-Jewish cast and its third performance was in the current Festival in the run-up to the finals.
Also featuring in the finals at NIDA’s Parade Theatre on March 13 will be the play “Life of Death”, co-written by Nir Shelter.
The Gala Final of Short+Sweet is one of the biggest nights on the Sydney Theatre calendar: the best 12 plays from the largest ten minute play festival in the world are presented for two nights only at the magnificent NIDA Parade Theatre. The culmination of two months of competition, with 170 ten minute plays presented at two theatres, all comes down to one amazing – and amazingly varied – night of theatre.
After the plays are performed celebrity judges will present awards including Best Actor, Best Writer and Best Director as well as the top prize, the Short+Sweet Award for the Best Overall production of the Festival.
Extra sparkle is added by Movie Extra filming the event to be televised later in the year as the series “To Be or Not to Be”.
