Estranged half brothers, Steven and David are brought together for a shiva where long buried family secrets are brought to a surface.
Part of Manchester Jewish Museum’s ‘Synagogue Scratch’ season.
Amy is a Mancunian Jewish actor and writer who recently graduated from the University of Cambridge. She is passionate about telling northern contemporary stories with a Jewish influence as well as incorporating verbatim testimony and interview into a script.
Her first full length play, “Life Before the Line”, won the prestigious Cambridge University Edinburgh Fringe Fund Prize – an award in which one piece of new writing is selected to be fully funded at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. “Life Before the Line” went on to receive critical acclaim in Cambridge and at the Edinburgh Fringe, with five-star reviews, sold out performances and a transfer to the Cockpit theatre in London.
“We Wish You Long Life” is Amy’s new piece of writing. It was originally performed as part of a short play festival, “One Play One Day”, produced by Reload Theatre Company, in which six short plays were written, rehearsed and performed to a live audience, all within twenty four hours. It has then been developed as a longer piece of theatre as an exploration into the lives of a Jewish-Irish Catholic family and the shared cultural history of these two communities.
Steven, raised Catholic, is brought begrudgingly by his wife, Leah, to a Jewish house of mourning for a person who he doesn’t seem to remember. Father and daughter, David and Katie, await the arrival of the Irish Catholic side of their family to resolve long buried secrets. And Karen, a food caterer, is working at her strangest event yet. “We Wish You Long Life“ explores cultural integration, shared memory and family ties.
Writer: Amy Lever
Director: Helen Perry
Producer: Danny Ryder
Assistant Producer: Tilly Sutcliffe
In collaboration with Reload theatre Company
Cast:
STEVEN – John Joyce O’ Keefe
DAVID – Danny Ryder
MARY – Orline Riley
KATIE – Amy Lever
KAREN – Tilly Sutcliffe
Book tickets for We Wish You A Long Life at Manchester Jewish Museum
