Review: Faygele at the Marylebone Theatre – moving, but not quite fully realised

Sarah
6 days ago
3 min read

⭐⭐⭐

Faygele, currently playing at the Marylebone Theatre, is a tender and often confronting new play set within an Orthodox Jewish family living in Brooklyn. It’s a heartfelt attempt to explore the painful intersection of religious tradition and queer identity, told through a backwards-moving narrative that begins with the funeral of Ari, a young gay man who has died by suicide, and gradually reveals the events leading up to it.

Man in black tank top stands next to a portrait on an easel. Blue light highlights the scene, creating a somber mood. — 18 year old Ari Looking back to 13 year old Ari. Photo credit Jane Hobson

We meet Ari, played with aching fragility by Ilan Galkoff, in death, as he hovers over his family’s shiva, breaking the 4th wall to talk directly to the audience. The choice to unfold the story in reverse is bold—it allows for a slow peel-back of layers, showing how each moment, each word, each silence, added weight to his burden. But while the concept is compelling, it sometimes feels more like a device than a fully integrated structure, and moments of real emotional punch occasionally get lost in the process.

The show is made up of many short scenes, which gives it a stop-start rhythm that doesn’t always serve the story. Each scene shift is marked by cast members physically moving the same few wooden set pieces around the stage—again and again. At first, the simplicity feels symbolic: these planks and benches reconfigure like Ari’s memories. But as the play goes on, the repeated movement becomes distracting and oddly noisy, breaking the emotional flow rather than enhancing it. It starts to feel like watching furniture choreography rather than storytelling.

One of the most enjoyable elements of the piece, unexpectedly, is Ari’s peppering of the script with Yiddish. His sharp tongue and dry wit—delivered in a rhythm that often mixes English with biting, well-timed Yiddish expressions—bring levity to an otherwise emotionally dense story. It’s not just comic relief, though; it’s an insight into his identity, a reminder that even in pain, there’s personality, culture, and humour. These moments give the character texture and charm, and they serve to lighten the atmosphere without undermining the seriousness of the subject matter.

The five-person cast is strong and fully committed, carrying us through the shifts in time and tone with care. Particular praise must go to Andrew Paul, who plays Rabbi Lev, a rare glimmer of warmth and compassion in Ari’s world. His Rabbi is gentle, deeply human, and quietly radical—believing, crucially, that religion should be grounded in love. His scenes offer much-needed breath and perspective, and it’s no surprise that Ari finds some solace in his company.

Two men sit on a wooden stage, one in a plaid shirt and cap, the other in a patterned shirt holding a bottle. They share an emotional moment. — Ari and Sammy connecting - photo credit Jane Hobson

Also memorable is Yiftach Mizrahi as Sammy, perhaps the only character on stage who seems truly at peace with who he is, finally. Sammy has left the Orthodox community and embraced his queer identity, but he’s not portrayed as a simple escapee or a foil—he’s messy, proud, vulnerable, and real. The scenes between Sammy and Ari offer a glimpse of what acceptance and understanding might look like, and they are among the most affecting in the play.

The rest of Ari’s family is drawn with less subtlety. Ben Caplan plays his father, a stern and unbending therapist who believes he can ‘cure’ gay people through aversion therapy. His commitment to religious orthodoxy is presented as absolute, but it sometimes borders on caricature. Clara Francis brings weariness and warmth to Ari’s overwhelmed mother, a woman trying to keep order in a household with ten other children while watching her son slip away.

The play raises big questions. Does this kind of rejection still happen in 2025? Are communities really still this closed, this unforgiving? The answer, uncomfortably, is yes—but perhaps not as universally as the play sometimes implies. There’s a lack of nuance here that leaves one wondering whether more complexity, more contradiction, might have brought the piece closer to home.

Ultimately, Faygele is heartfelt and sincere, with flashes of real insight and emotion. But it feels, at times, more like a first draft of a necessary conversation than its final word.

Faygele runs at the Marylebone Theatre until 31 May 2025.Performances Mon–Sat at 7:30pm, with matinees on Thurs and Sat at 2:30pm.

Tickets available from marylebonetheatre.com.

Have you seen it? I’d love to hear what you made of it.

Marylebone Theatre

Rudolf Steiner House

35 Park Road

London NW1 6XT

Box office: 02077237984

Cast:

Ilan Galkoff (Ari)

Ben Caplan (Dr Freed)

Clara Francis (Mrs Freed) w