The Holy Rosenbergs Tickets

A lot has happened since Ryan Craig's The Holy Rosenbergs first opened 15 years ago. London hosted the Olympics, the US re-elected its first African-American President, and we got an extra bank holiday when Charles III was crowned king. Yet alongside these moments of optimism, we’ve also navigated political upheavals, renewed tribal debates about identity and belonging, and an alarming rise in antisemitic attacks. Conversations around Israel and Palestine have grown louder and more polarised, with accusations tarring entire communities with the same brush. The return of The Holy Rosenbergs therefore, feels less like a revival and more like a reminder - there are real people at the heart of these world events, and they are all at risk from prejudice and persecution, as Saul (Dan Fredenburgh), the synagogue leader and the Rosenberg’s family friend, states “When Israel is attacked we all feel the sting” It’s timely that the production arrives just as the Olivier-nominated revival of All My Sons finishes its West End run. Both plays use domestic drama to confront, and humanise, international conflict. Its patriarchs, David Rosenberg and Joe Keller, may be separated by decades and continents, yet they share the same uneasy burden: fathers living in the shadow of a son lost to war, and the moral guilt that comes with their, supposed, involvement in it. With All My Sons closing, The Holy Rosenbergs takes up the mantle. It shines a light on the families behind the headlines, the pressure that global scrutiny puts upon them, broken by a political divide, the everyday casualties of war.   The play opens to the sound of Dizzee Rascal insisting that there’s nothing crazy about him, Jonny (Nitai Levi), David (Nicholas Woodeson) and Lesley’s (Tracy-Ann Oberman) youngest son is lounging on the sofa next to the midi hifi system, mouthing along to the lyrics and scribbling in a copy of the Racing Post. We’re transported to 2009, and the immediate aftermath of the Gaza war. However, with its extendable dining room table, garish patterned carpet and oak paneled units (designed by Tim Shortall), the house feels older still. It’s a place where history lingers. David and Lesley, the heads of the family, speak as though they’ve been navigating suspicion and accusation for generations, their familys story, and the legacy of the Rosenberg name, stretching back far beyond the events of the play itself. And the play itself, centres on the aftermath of Danny Rosenberg's death, and his sisters, Ruth (Dorothea Myer-Bennett), investigation into it. But her reports into her siblings death aren’t powered by revenge or retribution, much to the fury and upset of her family and community, she is working with the UN, and Sir Stephen Crossley (Adrian Lukis), on a report into war crimes in Gaza.

Out of the gates this week come two shows: The Holy Rosenbergs at the Menier and Maria and Rosetta at @sohoplace. Both arrive tried and tested. Ryan Craig’s The Holy Rosenbergs was first seen at the NT in 2011 and tells of David, an Edgware Jewish patriarch whose life is unravelling. His successful catering business is on the brink of disaster after a scandal, his son is dead, fighting for the UDF in Gaza, and his daughter is a human rights lawyer investigating war crimes in Gaza, much to the disquiet of the local Jewish community. So, while The Holy Rosenbergs is 15 years old, it certainly should be topical, and Craig’s play harks back to the Arthur Miller tradition of playwriting with nods both to All My Sons and Death of a Salesman. George Brant’s Marie and Rosetta was seen at the Rose Theatre in Kingston last spring and now roars into @sohoplace with Beverley Knight playing Sister Rosetta Tharpe, known as “the godmother of rock ‘n’ roll", and Ntombizodwa Ndlovu as Marie Knight, who Rosetta persuades to join her on a tour in the segregated states. The musical chemistry between the two is electrifying, and the singing should blow the roof off the theatre.