Review of 'The King of Lampedusa - A 60th Anniversary Celebration' Sunday 14 December 2003
posted 18 June 2004

Famous East End Yiddish play celebrated
Esteemed stage and TV actor Warren Mitchell attended the 60th anniversary celebrations of one of the most successful Yiddish plays ever. He paid tribute to the great Yiddish actor manager, Meyer Tzelniker, whose East End theatre company presented The King of Lampedusa, which opened at the Grand Palais, Whitechapel on 31 December 1943 during the darkest days of the war. This played to packed houses and ran for an unprecedented seven months with ten performances a week, drawing audiences from the West End and beyond.
The star of the 60th anniversary celebration, presented by JMI and JEECS at Toynbee Hall on 14 December 2003, was Meyer's daughter Anna Tzelniker, who had played the King's fiancée in the original production. Geraldine Auerbach MBE, who had masterminded the anniversary celebrations, opened the proceedings. Heather Valencia, who has made this play a special study, introduced the characters and the synopsis. Arnold Schwartzman, OBE, former East End resident, award winning designer and filmmaker came from Hollywood and introduced a short film about the East End and the play. Families of the Yiddish theatre fraternity were in attendance as was Les Wright an airman who had forced-landed on the tiny Island of Lampedusa with RAF Airman, Sidney Cohen in July 1943 — the incident that had been the inspiration for Shmuel Harendorf's play.

Publication of the play
The anniversary event marked the first publication ever of the play. This includes the original Yiddish and a transliteration edited by Heather Valencia who has also written the new English translation and an introduction. Anna Tzelniker has contributed the Foreword. The publication of the book and celebration event of The King of Lampedusa were supported by the Heritage Lottery Fund and the Cyril Shack Trust.
Order the first ever publication of 'The King of Lampedusa'

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