Review: FAYGELE, Marylebone Theatre

Photo credit: Jane Hobson

A return to the comfortable and welcoming Marylebone Theatre for Faygele by Shimmy Braun. A US mortgage broker, Braun has written this powerful play about coming out and youth suicide in Brooklyn based on his own ultra-Orthodox Jewish background, although he has been clear that the people in the play are not portrayals of his own family.

We first meet Ari Freed at his own funeral, after taking his life at the age of 18. He takes us back to the time of his Bar Mitzvah and his coming out to his family at the age of 13, who are unable to accept him for what he is. A kindly Rabbi tries his best to understand and help the young Ari, but is unable to persuade the parents to accept him back into the family. An older friend seems to offer a way forward, but that relationship founders too, although the friend makes amends at the funeral.

It’s all clearly told by a cast of five over 90 minutes, with Ilan Galkoff breaking the fourth wall throughout and engaging directly with the audience, successfully for the most part although his initial entrance through the audience jars. Galkoff fully inhabits this troubled young man, and shows us his energy and enthusiasms as well as his angst.

As the unbending and flawed father, Ben Caplan is entirely believable and attempts to give some nuance to the rather one-dimensional role. Clara Francis is touching and sympathetic as Ari’s troubled, well-meaning mother, unable to escape her marriage or her husband’s influence. Both actors make much of the opportunity to play other characters during the parable of the Turkey Prince, the most original section of the play. Essentially a parable for the whole play, the Turkey Prince could have featured more intensively in a less literal telling of this story.

As the well-intentioned Rabbi, Andrew Paul is always believable and we see the links between his character in the parable and his religious role. Yiftach Mizrahi is the least stereotypical character in the play, and all the more interesting because of it. Mizrahi brings a reality to the role which shows us the conflicts in his life and in his relationship with Ari.

Director Hannah Chissick adds pace and clarity to this rather predictable script. There are no surprises here, but it is still an important story to tell. Braun’s dialogue mostly convinces, although - at times - it is not clear what is flashback and what is the present. The script seems to belong to an earlier age, with mentions of OnlyFans and cellphones added to bring it up to date. Perhaps the point being made is that, for this community, nothing changes.

See Faygele then for the impressive performances and skilled direction of a familiar story, which needs to be told and retold.

**** Four stars

Reviewed by: Chris Abbott

Faygele plays at London’s Marylebone Theatre until 31 May, with further info here.