An evening of storytelling, music and yearning to find the flamenco dancer inside, Natalie Gamsu presents Shrapnel at the Kadimah Jewish Cultural Centre and fortyfivedownstairs this June.
When award winning performer Natalie Gamsu’s partner turned to her and said, “Darling, do you think you were a flamenco dancer in a past life?” – she decided that yes, she was. And this show was born.
Growing up in Namibia in the 60s, Gamsu was as far away from being a flamenco dancer as one could possibly get… in a country that was colonised by the British, the Germans and the South African government.
She grew up in a Jewish family during apartheid, went to boarding school in Cape Town, performed in underground nightclubs during State of Emergencies, and searched for a way to make sense of a country that made no sense to her at all.
Through ridiculous and heart-breaking personal stories, Shrapnel is a celebration of Gamsu’s strange and fearless journey. From psilocybin spiritual journeys into past lives, to arguing about tinned fruit in a customer service centre in Melbourne, Shrapnel has it all.
Gamsu (A Very Jewish Christmas Carol, MTC) searches for meaning through diabolically funny anecdotes of tsures (the Yiddish word for troubles) in an extraordinary, funny and deeply moving performance, featuring songs in Yiddish, Spanish and English.
Produced by Kadimah Yiddish Theatre, this wonderful one-woman show, co-written with Ash Flanders (This is Living, Malthouse Theatre) and directed by Green Room Award winner Stephen Niccolazzo (Loaded, Malthouse Theatre), showcases Natalie Gamsu at her finest.
Under the leadership of our award-winning team, Artistic Director Evelyn Krape and Executive Director Gary Abrahams, Kadimah Yiddish Theatre (KYT) has re-emerged as one of Melbourne’s most courageous and thought-provoking theatre companies.
As the only contemporary bilingual Yiddish-English theatre company in Australia and one of only a handful around the world, KYT has been hailed by audiences and critics alike for its unique voice, telling stories that are universal, relevant and prescient through a quintessentially Yiddish lens.
Recent successes include Green Room Award-winners Yentl (2022, 2024), The Ghetto Cabaret (2019) and Durkh a Modne Gloz (2021).
Shrapnel
Kadimah Jewish Cultural Centre, 7 Selwyn Street, Elsternwick
Performances: 15 & 16 June 2024
Bookings: www.trybooking.com
fortyfivedownstairs, 45 Flinders Lane, Melbourne
Season: 18 – 23 June 2024
Bookings: www.fortyfivedownstairs.com
For more information, visit: www.kadimah.org.au for details.
Image: Natalie Gamsu – photo by Marija Ivkovic