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Old Stock: A Refugee Story - Klezmer Music and Theatre at The Edinburgh Fringe


Friday 11th August at King's Hall, 21.30 

As part of the Canada 150th anniversary presentation a new space occupying a church "King's Hall" behind Summerhall in Edinburgh has been curated as a Canada Hub. Showcasing some content produced for the Dominion's anniversary. I attended this Klezmer music and theatre show which did not entirely comfortably make the Atlantic crossing being somewhat domestically oriented, but nevertheless had contemporary parallels which remind us of Canada's prominent role in opening its doors to more recent Syrian refugees which puts the UK's ignorant shirking to shame.
A well told and scripted story by Hannah Moscovitch (the name of the family CHaim and Hannah in the story so possibly her family story??)  of Jewish refugees from the pogroms of the late 19th century in Romania and their  experiences of persecution, exile, deprivation before arriving in Halifax Nova Scotia and settlement in  Montreal and in particular focused on the stories of a couple who are thrown together by the experiences of immigration - the old world values adapting to the New World realities.
The "set" was  housed in a shipping container which suggests open road touring (and thus rural touring) is its purpose. The long side doors open as the show goes up  to reveal a dark shtetl interior where the band sit - in the down stage proscenium is  hirsute and pigtailed  Ben Caplan who provides the narration Greek chorus style accompanies his songs on banjo and guitar .
This show suffered from an extremely poorly managed sound system and at times was therefore difficult to tolerate in the audience .  The front man, a wild-haired  Ben Caplan's voice production was completely over-amplified and the 5 strong Klezmer band(sax/clarinet, fiddle, drums, organ/accordion, guitar/banjo) too.  I have a feeling this Pop concert style amplification was not the sound engineer's idea but may have something to do with the show's design for outdoor delivery where a hoe down production the aim. My. Suggestion to Ben if he wants his voice to survive his Edinburgh run is to tone the fortissimo down.  That aside the playing of the band was excellent and well rehearsed and always interesting.
The reluctant married's  story acted convincingly  sometimes movingly if a little cramped in stage direction - they remained inside the shipping container despite the fact that cavorting Kaplan  had the wide proscenium to parade in.  Kaplan is all-present he can produce a laugh and moments of pathos and looks convincing (and happy) in the rabbinical role and chanting the rites for the dead.   There is no doubt that some of the cutting honesty and down to earth truth and humour of Jewish storytelling was well captured here  (for example an extensive catalogue of Jewish/Yiddish euphemisms for coition) and  similar to the way that Rabbi Lionel Blue used to delight The Radio 4  Today programme on Thought for the day a real earthy sense of day to day life and god-fearing belief .  In addressing openly the foundation migration stories of Canada in recent familial memory this had a resonance for the impending stories from today's immigration and refugee crises. 
Kaplan is mesmerising and annoying...is that possible?  The anachronistic glide from 19th century mores to contemporary thinking sometimes grated....but this is a work which captured something really critical about those pioneer stories    


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