Any night could be their last performance. Danger, disease and betrayal surround the Jewish musicians, singers, dancers, acrobats, opera and theatre performers thrown together and trapped in the Ghettos of WWII. But their fear is transformed into art as they try to create meaning out of the terror and chaos around them.
Full of Yiddish songs unheard for decades, The Ghetto Cabaret is provocative and challenging, revealing the black humour, courage and wit of a people struggling to survive.
Presented by fortyfivedownstairs with the Kadimah Yiddish Theatre, audiences are challenged to re-think the widely held narrative of Jews in WWII as helpless victims and instead as spiritual fighters using theatre to inspire resistance, resilience and dignity in the worst of times.
“★★★★ One of the most ambitious and stirring, blackly funny and profoundly sad works of cabaret I’ve seen.” - Cameron Woodhead, The Age
“A piece of magical theatre” - Stage Whispers
Filmed live at fortyfive downstairs in August 2019 Produced by Fortyfive Downstairs and Kadimah Yiddish Theatre
Yiddish, English
Australia