Credit: Igor Turin
By Grace Hatchell
I didn’t realise until this delivery that Kadimah Yiddish Theatre, founded back in 1911, is recognized as the oldest theatre company in Australia. On my international postal rounds, I’ve delivered news from all corners of theatre, but some envelopes still manage to surprise me.
After a series of sold-out, award-winning seasons in Australia — including a five-star run at Sydney Opera House — Kadimah Yiddish Theatre brings its bold new adaptation of Isaac Bashevis Singer’s story to London for its international premiere at Marylebone Theatre. The production runs from 6 March to 12 April 2026, with a press night on 11 March, and final casting has now been announced.
Ashley Margolis joins the company as Avigdor, with Claire Morrissey as understudy The Figure and Michali Dantes as understudy Avigdor. They complete a cast led by Amy Hack as Yentl, Genevieve Kingsford as Hodes and Evelyn Krape as The Figure, with Kandice Joy understudying Yentl and Hodes.
What’s striking about this company isn’t just the list of credits — though there are plenty — but the sense that each performer has been chosen with intention. Ashley Margolis brings experience from Hampstead Theatre, the Donmar Warehouse and the West End. Claire Morrissey’s work ranges from Beckett under Sir Trevor Nunn to long-running satire and screen roles, while Michali Dantes combines actor-musician training with physical storytelling. This feels like a cast assembled to listen as much as perform.
This adaptation of Yentl is staged bilingually in Yiddish and English, returning the story to its original language and texture. Set in an 1870s Polish shtetl, it follows a young woman forbidden by Orthodox law from studying Jewish scripture, who disguises herself as a man to enter a world of learning denied to her. What unfolds is not a neat rebellion, but a careful unravelling — of faith, gender, desire and tradition, all pulling in different directions.
Director and co-writer Gary Abrahams has been clear that this is not Yentl as many audiences may remember it. This production reconnects with the darker, more transgressive edges of Singer’s original short story, shaped by spirituality, folklore and the unseen — a world where belief carries both comfort and consequence.
Kadimah Yiddish Theatre, led by Artistic Director Evelyn Krape and Executive Director Gary Abrahams, has built its reputation on this kind of work. As the only contemporary bilingual Yiddish–English theatre company in Australia, and one of only a handful worldwide, it tells urgent stories through a distinctly Yiddish lens — stories that ask difficult questions without rushing to answer them.
Founded in Melbourne in 1911 and staging its first in-house production in 1925, Kadimah Yiddish Theatre has been carrying the Yiddish language and its theatre traditions for over a century. Bringing Yentl to London during its 100th anniversary year feels less like an arrival and more like a continuation — a story still being passed hand to hand.
Presented in the UK by Wild Yak Productions in association with Counterminers CIC, this international premiere arrives not with spectacle, but with trust. A belief that audiences are ready to lean in, listen closely, and meet Yentl where she truly began.
TITLE: Yentl
DATES: Friday 6 March – Sunday 12 April
PRESS NIGHT: Wednesday 11 March
PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE: Tuesday – Saturday @7.30pm, Thursday & Saturday @ 2.30pm, Sunday @3pm
VENUE: Marylebone Theatre, Rudolf Steiner House, 35 Park Road, London, NW1 6XT
BOX OFFICE (PHONE): 02077237984 (M – F 11am – 4pm, opening one hour before the show on Bank holidays)
BOX OFFICE (ONLINE): boxoffice@marylebonetheatre.com
WEBSITE: www.marylebonetheatre.com
AGE GUIDANCE: 14+
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