For this project, we interviewed individuals and groups of older Jewish Londoners about their experience of growing up in what was known as the Jewish East End in the early years of the twentieth century. For many, it was a time of privation and terrible over-crowding, yet most people look back on those years with great warmth and pride. The strong sense of community, coupled with a strong desire to make a go of things, seems to have given people boundless energy and resourcefulness. The story tellers enjoyed sharing their experience, whether in-depth in one-to-one interviews or in older people’s groups in synagogues and day centres, where one person’s memory triggered another and the recording sessions became terrific social events.
The verbatim show was developed in rehearsal and then performed, with live music, to communities across the UK by an excellent cast of professional Jewish actors.
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