In 2011, Ryan Craig wrote a play about the first Gaza war of 2009. The work carries an even deeper resonance in today’s fraught political climate. David Rosenberg once ran a successful Jewish catering business, but he has fallen on hard times after a rumour spread through the neighbourhood that his food caused a woman’s death by food poisoning. His wife Lesley believes they should leave the area that has now turned its back on them, but David is determined to restore his reputation. The fact that their son died defending Israel is seen as a way of re-establishing the family’s standing among those around them. Yet their daughter’s involvement in an inquiry that may bring charges against the Jewish state for its conduct during the 2009 Gaza war threatens this fragile hope of acceptance. The family’s predicament becomes a microcosm of a larger dilemma. At what point do the rewards of belonging to a family, a community, or a nation demand a loyalty that endangers personal integrity, and how should one respond when those pressures arise. Although the play is rooted in the particular context of Judaism and Israel, its implications extend well beyond that setting. It explores the bonds of kinship, local allegiance, and national identity that shape all our lives and that can suddenly place troubling demands on our moral conscience. Pride in family or community can slip into the exclusion and othering of outsiders. National feeling can harden into xenophobia. Craig has written a drama that raises searching and finely judged questions, and this thoughtful production does the work full justice. Director Lindsay Posner beautifully captures the affectionate squabbling and quick-fire exchanges that characterise family life, and the cast is consistently strong. For us, however, the stand-out performance comes from Dorothea Myer-Bennett as Ruth Rosenberg, the daughter accused of betraying both family and heritage because of her commitment to broader moral principles. Myer-Bennett’s portrayal is restrained, clear-eyed, and convincingly naturalistic, perfectly expressing both Ruth’s inner conflict and the values she refuses to abandon. The Holy Rosenbergs is compelling, essential theatre for a moment when thoughtful people everywhere are pulled between competing loyalties to family, cultural identity, or country and the larger ideals of justice and truth that arise from our shared humanity.
Rated: ★★★★★
Reviewed by J.C.
Photo by Manuel Harlan
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