With Enough About Me…Let’s Talk About Jew!, Jeremie Bracka presented a play that documented his life growing up Jewish, from his birth up until his controversial entry into drama school. Reflecting the struggle of his people, Jeremie’s colourful tale is a celebration of survival against the odds.
Jeremie’s story was a very physical performance playing all the characters in the story. He inhabited wonderfully exaggerated caricatures of family members and acquaintances, from the bird-like posturing of his aunts to his smothering mother. With a large portion of Melbourne’s Jewish community in the audience for opening night, these impersonations brought many howls of recognition. What I found particularly fascinating was the way he demonstrated the subtle differences of Jewish people from different countries and the heated in fighting between them. Yiddish terms were constantly used in the telling of his tale, but non-Jewish folk were easily able to follow what was going on.
In an explanation of how his parents often considered television as anti semitic, he portrayed television newsreaders as cartoonish, one dimensional characters. Along with the inclusion of his naïvely racist Australian neighbour, he was able to discuss the skewed view non-Jews often have of his race. It gave this performance more depth than just an hour of Jewish stereotypes.
At stage left was his ‘Buba’ seated at a keyboard, providing brilliant musical accompaniment. As well as espousing Grandmotherly advice and lovingly worded insults, she performed a hilarious segment set at Jeremie’s Bah Mitzvah. It involved injecting an Aussie flavour to the party by reworking ‘Waltzing Matilda’ using classic pieces as a basis.
As a finale, Jeremie played some recorded voices of his family. Listening to the voices of the actual characters in the story brought home just how brilliant a mimic he was leaving us shaking our heads in amazement. Enough About Me…Let’s Talk About Jew! is a wonderful show that will delight both Jews and Goys alike.
’Enough About Me…Let’s Talk About Jew!’ is playing Wed to Sun until April 22. See the “Festival website”:http://www.comedyfestival.com.au/season/2007/show/238/ for all the details.