wot no fish!! promo feb 13
TRANSCRIPT
Wot? No Fish!!
Danny Braverman
In 1926 the newly married shoemaker Ab Solomons brought his wages home for his wife Celie.
With a little doodle on the packet…
From that point on every week Ab drew a cartoon for Celie. Always drawing her with a red nose.She had a cold the day they married.
They were joined by their sons Jeff and Larry.
And Ab created a chronicle of every day events and major milestones.
After retirement, Ab kept up his cartoons. Now in full colour.
55 years and 3000 cartoons
Ab’s cartoons show the ups and downs of marriage …
sometimes saucy …
sometimes sad …
money worries …
the war…
Celie’s declining health …
Larry moving into an institution.
A family immersed in Jewish life.
Ab drew his last cartoon in 1982 – the year that Celie died.
Still with a red nose.
Ab’s son, Jeff Solomons, died in 2009, bequeathing his Dad’s cartoons to his nearest family.
Danny Braverman is Ab’s great-nephew.
Danny is a storyteller who – by a remarkable coincidence - lives in the same house Ab grew up in.
This is Ab’s mother in the garden of that house.
And this is Danny pestering his great-uncle to show him a saucy cartoon.
Wot? No Fish!!opens up Ab Solomons'
unique art for the first time to the public.
In the Autumn and Winter of 2012/13 Danny Braverman
developed the show by trying it out on different audiences of
all ages and backgrounds.
In Summer 2013, the show will be launched at the
Edinburgh Festival before touring nationally and
internationally.
Audience reactions
"I cried. I feel like this afternoon has played a significant part in my
life - it hit me like a train.”
"Totally overwhelming”
"Touching and beautifully directed ... it should go global.”
"Nobody tells stories like Danny. Nobody.”
“Could be as important as Pepys diary one day”
"The start of something huge. A jaw-dropping and hugely moving story.”
Mark Billingham (Author)
'Powerful, authentic, moving and very funny”Rachel Lichtenstein (Author)
“Superb. Moving, intricate, storytelling.”Sarah Brigham – Artistic Director Derby Theatres
“It works on so many levels: storytelling, theatre, family, immigrant communities, history, the war, how
life was, mental health, memory. biography, the ‘art’ of interpretation, what does one’s life add up to in the
end.”Mike Alfreds (Theatre Director)
For further [email protected] 928623
Writer/Performer: Danny Braverman
Director: Nick PhilippouProduction Manager: Simon Lyall
Animator: Wallace McDougall