Debuting at Etcetera Theatre, Rules Schmules – How To Be Jew-ish, opened to a packed audience as the Camden Fringe Festival kicked off. Carried on its back all on her own is Suzie Depreli, a sassy, upbeat creative who has painstakingly written out her own rulebook for what being Jewish looks like in the modern world. Drawing on her own personal experiences, she has created a funny, engaging and entertaining show, mixing in anecdotes, song, interactive media and relatable stories.
She sings and has written 10 funny, relatable songs, like ‘JMS, Jewish Mummy Syndrome’, and ‘Medical, Law or Showbiz’, which were laugh along tracks, drawing on Suzie’s encounters with Jewish Mothers and the expectations of Jewish youth when figuring out career aspirations.
There are always significant barriers to being a one woman show, but Suzie truly came to the show with confidence and ease. Her experiences with Judaism make for a colourful narrative, laden with funny rhymes and musings about her multicultural background. With tech support from Rachel Sarah Leveney, the duo have clearly gone to lengths to create something that allows non-initiated folks a look-in to Jew-ish life. Their lived experience of the challenges of Judaism and the current rise in Antisemitism, shows sheer commitment to creating art that addresses this very necessary topic.
However, the show gets old pretty quick, the songs went on way longer than needed, and some of the ground covered was totally run-of-the-mill, typical and downright boring at times. Judaism has a rich history and has such a culturally diverse offering, yet the thoughts explored within this show felt done to death. Suzie’s ramblings between songs felt familiar in that she was addressing mostly people that she already knew, which made for bold assumptions about people’s knowledge base. Her glossary of terms that one might encounter in Judaism, although intended to inform, fell flat and added nothing interesting to the show itself.
Rules Schmules - How To Be Jewish will run again on the 8th, 9th and 10th August, with an earlier performance of 5pm. Show? On Shabbat? GASP!!! For more information and tickets, you can follow the link here. The show will also run at Edinburgh Fringe from the 20th-25th August - more information and tickets can be found here.
⭐️⭐️ (2*)
Gifted tickets in return for an honest review
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