The new work from Diane Samuels will continue to be performed at the Arcola Theatre until the 1st March.
Broadway World: **** “It is not for me to appropriate any element of the unique trauma of The Holocaust and apply it as a metaphor – that is for Miriam and those carrying its burden today – but it is for me, and people like me, to listen, to learn and to act on what we see now. The testimony of As Long As We Are Breathing demands that we must.”
The Guardian: **** “Caroline Gruber’s older Miriam captures the improbable humour and forgiveness that Freedman – who took a reluctant curtain call with the actors on press night – brings to her reflections. Newcomer Zoe Goriely, between eye-watering yoga stretches, shows the accelerating terror of young Eva and the reasons for her long postwar silence. Matthew James Hinchliffe provides a live backing track with instruments including clarinet (effects ranging from breathing to sirens) and, with a bunch of keys, the ominous percussion of a Slovakian janitor.”
Everything Theatre: **** “That isn’t to say that we don’t hear and feel the tragedy and the grief. Maybe the intimate and calm space allows us both to feel safe to experience the awful and to provide stark contrast. The audience is well held in this difficult content, guided equally by Gruber’s and Goriely’s symbiotic performances and Hinchliffe’s supportive musical offerings.”
A Young (ish)n Perspective: **** “Playwright Diane Samuels has created a truly touching homage to the life of Miriam Freedman. Her valuable legacy is beautifully enshrined by this piece, a story which will hopefully and deservedly be told again and again and again.”
Theatre & Tonic: *** “There is no doubt that Miriam Freedman has lived an extraordinary life and her story is one that should be told, and that Diane Samuels took a lot of care in getting her story right, but some things just didn’t land. It’s worth a watch, but 90 minutes didn’t feel enough to get to the crux of this seemingly beautiful person in one show.”
Fringe Review: “Over 85 minutes, As Long As We are Breathing though invites us in personally, and that perhaps is the greatest challenge of all. Do see this exceptional and brave piece of theatrical memory.”
The Reviews Hub: *** “Gruber is excellent; warm, open-hearted, and always ready with a smile, even though her subject matter is hard to put into words and hard to listen to. But plain talking, almost stripped of poetry, is the only way to approach such atrocities. So commanding is Gruber on stage that the presence of Zoe Goriely as Miriam’s younger self is unnecessary. A one-woman show, all the lines spoken by Gruber, would be the ideal version of this show and it would also remove the always awkward problem of having an adult playing a child.”
London Theatre 1: **** “This production was entertaining and educational and held the audience spellbound as the tale unfolded. While Mrs Tweedie and I would not have got on that well, Miriam’s story is one that should be heard, seen, and lived through and I’m so glad I agreed to do just that. As Long As We Are Breathing, is really good theatre.”
The Stage: *** “Humane and heartfelt performances provide a focal point for this highly personal response to the trauma of the Holocaust.”
Adventures in Theatreland: *** “This work is more like a self-talk than a complete story. Because most of the time the past is shown through words, there are times when it is slightly difficult to show the heaviness of emotions that these events carry, and it is still a little away from being a story that strikes people from the bottom of their hearts, even though it has the full potential to do so. However, if the goal of this work is simply to heal the wounds of the past, then it has certainly achieved its mission.”
There Ought to be Clowns: “Ben Caplan’s production thus has a major task in both establishing and maintaining this atmosphere. Jasmin Colangelo’s movement brings expressive power to several scenes and Isabella Van Braeckel’s set design has some gorgeous touches, like the personal mementos trapped in gauze, frozen in time like amber. Sadly, their beauty works against them forming an effective video screen for Douglas Baker’s projections.”
To book tickets visit: https://www.arcolatheatre.com/whats-on/as-long-as-we-are-breathing/