The news that Griff Rhys Jones will take over as Fagin in Oliver! in time for Christmas at Drury Lane raises an interesting question. Do you have to be Jewish to play the role, as Ron Moody was, or is Jewishness a state of mind?

I only ask because I was sitting in a hospital A&E department yesterday morning (my wife was unlucky enough to be stung, very badly, on the eyelid by a vicious little wasp, no relation) when an orthodox Jew crossed the room and asked me if I was Jewish.

Rendered briefly speechless I recovered to ask, why do you ask? And he said: “Because you look Jewish.”

I got the feeling that if my reply had been positive he would have either suggested I join his synagogue or audition for Cameron Mackintosh.

My first reaction, though, was to sense a curious inverted anti-semitism in his enquiry.

Racism is a dangerous two-edged sword these days. You can’t say anything, alas, without offending somebody. And is the overt identification of a person’s ethnicity in a democratic multi-cultural society an intrusive suggestion, or a racialist accusation?

There is also the implication that ethnicity can be defined along lines of stereotype. I could pass, I dare say, for an even grumpier version of Woody Allen. And there’s no doubt at all that, like the old lady in Candide who feels “suddenly Spanish” I have moments when I feel “suddenly Jewish” but not as many as when I feel “suddenly Irish” or “suddenly Essex.”

An actor, of course, can “look” Jewish even if he’s not, and I for one fully expect Griff Rhys Jones to be the best Fagin since Jonathan Pryce, who wasn’t Jewish, either; neither was Rowan Atkinson, nor is the British Iranian comedian Omid Djalili, the current Fagin and, by all accounts, the best by a mile so far.

I dare say some Jews think that only Jews should play Fagin or Shylock. And probably even more Jews think no-one should play either, as the characters could be deemed anti-semitic in their pronounced semitism.

It’s the old argument of whether or not because Shylock can be seen as a “bad” character, or a portrayal in anti-semitism — that is certainly the view of Arnold Wesker — Shakespeare was therefore anti-semitic in himself in writing the part.

I don’t think that, but then I’m not Jewish, not technically, anyway. I had a few spasms before The Mysteries last night, though, when I went with a friend into Gaby’s delicatessen by Leicester Square tube.

Faced with a menu of salt beef, falafel, hoummus, pickles and sauerkraut I didn’t know whether to feel Jewish, or Greek, or Lebanese, or just plain hungry. I opted for the latter choice. And got pleasantly stuck in.

Oh, and by the way, the best ever Shylock in my experience has been Henry Goodman, who is Jewish. But Alec Guinness was pretty remarkable, too, and he wasn’t.

The issue is clouded with difficulty, best expressed by Jonathan Miller when he said that he was Jewish, not a Jew; he didn’t want to go the whole hog.

So I guess we non-Jews can even join him in that, and feel as Jewish as we want to be without beards, locks or too many strings attached.
 

This entry was posted on Wednesday, September 16th, 2009 at 9:13 am and is filed under Michael Coveney. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.