The
Theatreguide.London
Review
Theatreguide.London
www.theatreguide.london
12:37
Finborough
Theatre December 2022
Julia Pascal’s ambitious historical epic 12:37 follows the lives of two fictional Jewish Irish brothers, Paul and Cecil, from Dublin in 1935 to the creation of the State of Israel in 1948.
It includes their training as doctors in Ireland, where Paul falls in love with Eileen who his mother forbids him to marry because she is not Jewish, and the family mourning the death of their father.
Moving to London, they are shown being told by a hospital matron to arrange the death of a newborn baby because it supposedly isn't right. She claims she can see it in the baby girl’s face that it would be unlikely to live beyond the age of twelve.
They become involved with communists in the East End resisting the rise of Mosley’s fascist blackshirts, and Paul learns boxing skills from Harry Cohen who marries their mother. Both brothers fall for a visiting Lithuanian Jewish communist Rina Goldberg, who is enthusiastic about creating a new kind of theatre.
1946 finds them in Tel Aviv being drawn to the struggle to create a new state and coming into contact with right-wing Zionists that now include Rina, whose traumatic experience of the Nazi death camps has shifted her politics rightwards.
Cecil spends much of his time in the city entertaining the troops as part of ENSA (The Entertainments National Service Association)
At 12:37 on the 22nd of July, the Irgun blow up the King David Hotel, the headquarters of the British Armed forces in Jerusalem, killing 91 people of various nationalities and wounding 46.
If all this wasn't enough to be a television series, there are also many dances, a fair number of ritual Hebrew songs, a couple of funerals, various romantic encounters and a string of amusing jokes.
But everything is skated over superficially. There is barely any depth of character or community and the political implications of the story are never explored.
Surely the deliberate killing of a baby in London and another deliberate killing in Dublin deserve more than a short passing mention.
The creation of Israel and what that means for Palestinians has become so controversial that it really needs more than a short powerful impressionistic documentary episode about a hotel explosion and a couple of light chats Rina has separately with Paul and Cecil.
Yes, Julia’s sympathies are with the unnamed victims in this well-performed history play and she writes at times with a fluent lyrical warmth.
But there is no depth and too much time given to singing and dancing compared to the story, which makes the show feel unbalanced. There is also an irritatingly sentimental ending.
However, it's the evasion of any exploration of political controversy that might disappoint most of the audience.
Keith
McKenna
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Review - 12:37 - Finborough Theatre 2022