Calcutta Kosher

Synopsis

Set in a crumbling house in the Indian Jewish community, Mozelle, a formidable matriarch has decided she is about to die. On her request, her daughters Silvie and Esther return to their birth home. Although the house is unchanged the women are. They have long since settled abroad, and their identities are marked by the need to belong in the countries of their choice. Over a Sabbath supper of Indian Jewish Food, revelations are made. Silvie and Esther are forced to confront the reality of their own lives in light of a hidden past.

Our Review:

15 June 2004

Note: This review dates from 18 February 2004 and an earlier tour stop for this production.

Shelley Silas was born into Calcutta’s Jewish community, though her parents left India when she was a baby. Nonetheless, she’s learnt enough about her heritage to convince with this heart-warming and arresting tale set in that dwindling community, now numbering barely 30 souls, though it still boasts three synagogues.

For one soul, Mozelle, a matriarch facing her final illness, the synagogues symbolise the umbilical cord she will never break, even if her two daughters, Silvie and Esther, have long since fled the nest to settle in the US and London, respectively. They arrive back at her summons, each determined to assuage her guilt at neglecting Mozelle, by persuading her to leave India and join their families in the West.

In this neat inversion of King Lear, Mozelle acknowledges she owes more to Maki, the devoted Indian girl she took in as a child and who tends ...

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