A comedy of us Jews

Jewish Museum, Cape Town

Jac Weinstein’s (1883-1976) musical comedy satirizes Jewish life at home front in Helsinki in 1940. Jewish clothing trade has been affected by severe rationing, which is driving shop owner Josef Kleiderman crazy. An arrival of a mannequin doll takes his thoughts back to Paris and its carefree life, shattered by the Nazi German invasion. By magic the doll becomes alive and he finds himself flirting with the doll. Josef’s strange behaviour makes his wife Hana suspicious and jealous. The comedy features popular Yiddish and French songs from the time. The performance is in English, Yiddish and French.

Produced by Aviva Pelham and featuring Matthew Reid on clarinet.