Oh behave!’ Mordy Powers - Jewish Man of Mystery

A high point of Purim at Nottingham Liberal Synagogue is always the annual Purimspiel. Obviously, I would say that as not only am I always in them, but I’m married to the author and director Mike. Seriously, they are a lot of fun and a real labour of love from Mike. He has managed to shoehorn the Purim story into many an icon of pop culture. This year the aim was to celebrate 60 years of NLS and Purim. We wanted to have fun with a 60s theme, so Austin Powers seemed obvious. Great costumes, funny lines, top tunes, but an awful lot of innuendo that didn’t suit a family audience. Mike ably fused them all to create a light hearted retelling of the two stories with just the right level of Austin Powers humour.

Back in the 60s, the fledgling Nottingham Progressive Jewish Congregation face challenges from unscrupulous landlord Dr Evil-Haman. The founders call for help from cool cat solicitor Mordy Powers with his sexy briefs. Mordy uses his powerful mojo of Jewish guilt to get Dr Evil-Haman arrested but he escapes and pickles himself in a large jar of Mrs Elswood’s finest Haimishas. Mordy does so too so that he can return to protect the shul in the future. Fast forward to the present day when Dr Evil-Haman emerges from his pickle jar to try to stop the shul buying their plot of land. Only a freshly unpickled Mordy can save them, but even he needs help. He calls on the best Jewish mojo of all – the Kitchen Crew and the power of Jewish cooking!

Photo Credit: Julia L-T

Derbyshire was well represented in the show. Mike and I live in Derby, and fellow Derby member Mark Bowyer did a great job as Dr Evil-Haman. Not only did he have a lot of lines to learn and one of David Bogod’s hilarious songs to sing, but he also had to wear a rather hot and increasingly sticky bald cap. I enjoyed narrating act one, playing Frau Vashtissener, and, best of all, creating two enormous pickle jars for the set. It was lovely to see community members laughing away in the audience and a big thank you to Julia for taking some great photos.