Faygele
On the stage in this relatively new theatre, there is an easel holding up a photo of a smiling 13-year-old Ari Freed (Ilan Galkoff), seemingly full of hopes and aspirations as he marks his Bar Mitzvah, the moment a Jewish boy becomes a man. However, centre-stage is his coffin. We know that all will not end well.
Shimmy Braun’s brilliant writing reflects the lived experience of many LGBTQI people within the orthodox Jewish community. It’s also semi-autobiographical, drawing on his own experience of coming out as gay much later in life. However, you don’t have to be Jewish to appreciate or relate to this story. The themes Braun explores transcend different cultures and faiths – sadly, very accurately for those of us (including myself) who have had similar experiences in different contexts.
Faygele is a story of the tensions between tradition and progression, between owning your identity while wanting to conform, and of course of the ‘othering’ of LGBTQI people within religious circles.
The family at the heart of this story has layer upon layer of complexity. Not only is the father insistent on orthodoxy to the point of oppression, he also has his hidden secrets, but can’t see the hypocrisy of his actions, since he’s a straight man.
Galkoff appears at the side of the auditorium, and with disarming charm, draws us into his world by addressing us directly. He tells us that his story isn’t easy, but that he will make us laugh as well as cry. And that he does. The humour is dark, given that he’s narrating the whole thing from the context of his own funeral, having taken his own life. We can’t use the word suicide in this context, as there isn’t an equivalent word in Hebrew, highlighting the difficulty his family and community have in accepting that this has happened at all.
Galkoff’s emotional journey is impactful, wrestling with being different from an early age. His characterisation is utterly convincing and he is more than a safe pair of hands with a very sensitive subject. He keeps us anchored at his funeral, but takes us on a series of flashbacks which reveal the depths of his pain.
The other four performers deal with the material with equal sensitivity. They bring realism and humanity to each angle. Ben Caplan brings us the monstrous father figure of Dr Freed, who isn’t shy in emotionally abusing his young son with slurs – Faygele being the more polite word, a Hebrew term used with the same aggression as ‘faggot’. Clara Francis ably portrays the long-suffering and subjugated Mrs Freed, desperately trying to appease her husband as the perfect Jewish wife and mother to eleven children. We empathise as she desperately tries to support and understand her son while remaining loyal to her husband – or rather, keeping him quiet.
Andrew Paul portrays Rabbi Lev and Yiftach Mizrahi plays Sammy Stein. The two characters offer Ari reason and hope in the midst of his turmoil. Paul enables us to warm to a Rabbi who is wrestling with what his tradition expects of him and what his
heart is telling him from his understanding of a loving God. Mizrahi sensitively brings the hope for Ari that it’s possible to be both Jewish and gay. They are the flickers of light in an otherwise dark existence for Ari – but even this isn’t enough to reverse the damage to the boy’s psychology.
Braun is careful not to make this a vendetta against religion. His characterisation of the Rabbi ensures that we are sympathetic to the tightrope he has to walk within his role. But we are still in no doubt about the blinded hatred that Ari suffers at the hand of his father’s warped understanding of orthodoxy.
The set for this play is simple, and it’s left to the actors to manoeuvre the scenery from the funeral scene to the various flashbacks. This is perhaps where the piece lacks a little pace, but not in any significant detrimental way. The soundscape keeps us firmly in the Hebrew genre, apart from the occasional deviation to something more flamboyant playing to Ari’s preferred taste.
Even though we know where this is going to end, we are still hit by the devastating waste of life, caused through bigotry and entrenched views. We can only lament as Ari’s father finally breaks with the knowledge that his actions have led to this moment, but it’s all too late.
This is an all too tragically familiar tale, but sensitively told. This is a moment to give thanks for theatre speaking to the wider world.
This show was reviewed on the 6th May 2025 at the Marylebone Theatre, London where it runs until the 31st May 2025. Tickets available here: Faygele at Marylebone Theatre
Review written by Ian Worsfold
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Photo credit: Jane Dobson
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