Seven Other Children

Seven Other Children is a 2009 play by Richard Stirling.[1][2]

The play premiered at the New End Theatre, Hampstead, London in May, 2009.[3]

Mission

Stirling penned the play as a response to Caryl Churchill's controversial play Seven Jewish Children at the Royal Court Theatre.[3] He told the Journal of Turkish Weekly that he wrote the play "to provide necessary context to a vital debate" after Churchill's play caused "such disquiet and anger".[4] Elsewhere, he explained that Seven Other Children shows "the tragedy of the Palestinian child as a victim of a distorted education about Israel".[5] On 14 May, the play was given four out of five stars by the Hampstead & Highgate Express.

Proceeds from stagings of Seven Other Children are donated to the OneVoice Movement.[6]

Production

Premiere

On 11 May, London's Evening Standard[7] carried an article with details of correspondence to Stirling from the Royal Court Theatre, where Seven Jewish Children was originally staged. In the article, Stirling disagreed with the indication from Royal Court artistic director Dominic Cooke that the Churchill play needed no balance; the article stated that the Royal Court threatened legal action if Cooke's 'excuses' were read out onstage before the production of Seven Other Children at the New End Theatre. Further details of the correspondence appeared elsewhere.

Like the Churchill play, Stirling's work is performed by nine actors and each scene is set within a period of recent history. In this play, however, the actors and the children they discuss are Palestinian.[8]

The original production was directed by Simone Vause. The cast was Simona Armstrong, Martin Brody, Philip Chamberlin, Amerjit Deu, Joy McBrinn, Claire Malka, Jodie Osterland and Phineas Pett.

Other stagings

In May, 2009, the city of Liverpool withdrew public funding from a theatre festival that had scheduled Seven Jewish Children after the producers refused to balance the political message of the Churchill play with Seven Other Children. Stirling called the producer's decision "at best incautious and at worst severely one-sided."[6]

References
  1. Seven Other Children, Engage, 16 April 2009 , Mira Vogel http://engageonline.wordpress.com/2009/04/16/seven-other-children-2/
  2. New play responds to Caryl Churchill's Seven Jewish Children, 30 April 2009, Francine Wolfisz, Haringey Independent http://www.haringeyindependent.co.uk/freetime/freetimefeatures/4333992.New_play_responds_to_Caryl_Churchill_s_Seven_Jewish_Children/
  3. Playwright counters anti-Israel play, Jerusalem Post, 10 May. 2009, jonny paul, jerusalem post correspondent, london http://fr.jpost.com/servlet/Satellite?cid=1241773214181&pagename=JPost/JPArticle/ShowFull%5B%5D
  4. Us, Uk Playwrights Write Separate Responses To 'seven Jewish Children', Journal of Turkish Weekly, 20 April 2009 "Us, UK Playwrights Write Separate Responses to 'seven Jewish Children', 20 April 2009". Archived from the original on 2 April 2015. Retrieved 12 May 2009.
  5. What to tell the children, 7 May 2009, Socialist Worker http://socialistworker.org/2009/05/07/what-to-tell-the-children
  6. http://www.haaretz.com/hasen/spages/1086043.html Haaretz, 17 May 2009, Liverpool cuts funding for festival that includes 'anti-Semitic' play, Cnaan Liphshiz
  7. "Londoner's Diary | Evening Standard". Archived from the original on 16 July 2011. Retrieved 14 May 2009.
  8. Seven Other Children,The Jewish Chronicle, John Nathan, 7 May 2009 http://www.thejc.com/articles/review-seven-other-children
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