July 22, 2014  

Wot? No Fish!!

Went to Battersea Arts Centre (BAC) last Friday (18/7/14) to see Danny Braverman’s one-man show Wot? No Fish!! He and Nick Philippou are working together using this show as a springboard to re-form the Bread & Circuses Theatre Company.

It was a tour de force of story-telling, enhanced, not hindered, as it happens on Friday by a 30 minute break thanks to a rogue fire alarm – an incident which merely enhanced our admiration for Danny’s skill as a “village or clan” story-teller.

Braverman uses pictures drawn on the back of his weekly wage packets, by Abraham Solomons to tell a seemingly simple story of an East End Jewish family. Solomons presented the pictures along with the packets’ contents to his wife every week from the mid-twenties to the mid-fifties and in the course of it told a story of great charm and considerable complexity.

The end result was not a classic theatrical drama but a story, told with great skill and dramatic impact. It was the story of writer/performer Danny Braverman’s own family, and felt like an intimate family history told by an old friend. His quiet conversational voice emphasised the tenderness and warmth of that family.

The pictures were back projected on to a screen, which was the stage back-drop, and were part of a very cleverly constructed show. On the way we explored the nature of Jewish and ethnic identity, of poverty and wealth in society and of family love and togetherness. There were bad times. We see the pain that the couple have faced during their lives together, particularly when an autistic son is institutionalised. That week’s picture showed the middle-aged couple with a wall between them – very poignant and very simple.

The script includes an interesting take on the nature of history: not a simple line, nor regular cycles; more like a spiral of change but touching upon older contact points as it spirals. Indeed the programme notes claim that the show “is the helix as a metaphor for history”.

The performance ends brilliantly, as the final picture is animated: the couple walk up the hill together, with birdsong on the sound-track. On the verge of being schmaltzy but the warmth and humanity triumphs over that unworthy thought. If you get a chance to see it – do NOT miss it.

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About Tony Belton

Labour Councillor for Latchmere Ward 1972-2022, now Battersea Park Ward, London Borough of Wandsworth Ever hopeful Spurs supporter; Lane visit to the Lane, 1948 Olympics. Why don't they simply call the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, The Lane? Once understood IT but no longer

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