Bubble Schmeisis
Summerhall
13 August 2016
4 Stars
Book Now Welcome to the Canning Town Schvitz, East London's last authentic bath house. Writer and performer Nick Cassenbaum takes us on a visit there with his grandfather and two of his oldest friends, via memories of summer camps, barbers and Spurs, and an East End fast disappearing. The rituals of the Schvitz work brilliantly in the slightly shabby setting of the Dissecting Room at Summerhall, and Cassenbaum is a warm, friendly host. We do breathing exercises with him, he divides us into groups, but ultimately we are his tribe as he opens his life story to us. And under it all is the fear that this culture is disappearing. As he asks who will carry on the tradition of schmesis, to massage a fellow man, he chose me. Despite the public situation, I felt honoured to do it. This is a warm, informative, lovely show, and you would do well to spend an hour at the baths!
BOOK NOW FOR BUBBLE SCHMEISIS AT SUMMERHILL
Paul is a playwright, director, actor, academic, (he has a PhD from the University of East Anglia), teacher and theatre reviewer! His plays include Living with Luke, (UK tour 2016), Play Something, (Edinburgh Festival Fringe/Drayton Arms Theatre, London 2018), , (2019), and now The Miner’s Crow, which won the inaugural Artist’s Pick of the Fringe Award at the first ever Colchester Fringe Festival 2021. In lockdown 2020 he created the audio series Isolation Alan, available on Youtube, and performed online in the Voice Box Festival. He is the founder member of Stage Write, a Colchester based theatre company, and his acting roles include Rupert in How We Love by Annette Brook, first performed at the Vaults Festival 2020 and revived at the Arcola and at Theatre Peckham in 2021. Follow: @stagewrite_
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