Review: THE ARC: A TRILOGY OF NEW JEWISH PLAYS, Soho Theatre

The Arc keeps an eye on the past but it’s focus is firmly on the future. Consisting of three plays Birth, Marriage, Death, Emanate Theatre Company’s second production is not one weighed down by existential meanderings or heavy questions. Levity in the face of uncertainty is its greatest strength.

Alexis Zegerman’s Marriage is the most forward looking. Adrian, a North London nebbish equipped with cringe-inducing one liners and awkward dad jokes, is meeting Eva for the first time. Their first date is deliciously uncomfortable; a gangling Sam Thorpe-Spinks’ is met by Eva’s defensive folded arms and rolling eyes. Actor Abigail Weinstock is charmingly despairing: with a stern flicker of her eyebrow she laments: how did I end up here with him?

The two of them cannot escape a question, one that bears down on them as much as it draws them together: the J-question - “How Jewish are you?”. Zegerman playfully personifies this with a surreal twist: God, who just happens to be sitting next to them in the restaurant, interjects and declares their destiny to continue the bloodline. They are not so certain they subscribe to such a destiny. God pays his bill and leaves. What now?

Jewishness is the ostensible thread that ties the three plays together. But beneath, it’s that question. For Amy Rosenthal’s Birth, a doctor is confronted with the accusation of inducing an early labour for one of his patients so that he can go on his honeymoon. “What do you want me to do?” asks an indignant Nigel Planer. In Ryan Craig’s Death, two siblings plan both the impending funeral of their Nana and of one of their children’s recently deceased hamster.

A delightful lightness that slips back and forth between funny and poignant gently emanates. What now? becomes both a Jewish question and a universal one that speaks to us all. Cultural, personal, and political histories echo behind us all. But the future is always still all to play for. What now? Get on with it and find out.

In that sense The Arc is incredibly ambitious for three plays that together are just over an hour. The sometimes squished format admittedly limits its capacity to penetrate beyond the surfaces of the three stories. More directorial voltage wouldn’t go amiss either.

Regardless, there is a firm pulse beating undeaneath. Connections emerge; family, love, and all the niggly gristle between the two. Gorgeous, albeit disjointed, glimpses at a bigger picture whet the palate. But the audience are left wanting more. In their defence, this is Emanate’s second production. What now? is a question the artistic directors will certainly be asking themselves. No doubt something bigger is the answer.

The Arc plays at Soho Theatre until 26 August

Photo Credit: Danny With A Camera.

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