Julia Pascal

Writer/Stage Director

Add to shortlist

Books

Agent: Robert Kirby
Assistant: Olivia Davies

Film, TV & Theatre

Books

Julia was born in Manchester. In 1977, she graduated from the London University with a B.A (Hons) in English.

Pascal is a playwright and has worked widely as a print and radio journalist. Her work was for The Guardian, The Times, The Observer, The New Statesman, The Financial Times, City Limits, Time Out, New Society, The Jewish Chronicle, BBC Radio and as a TV commentator. She is a regular book critic for The Independent.Her  theatre texts are published by Oberon Books

At the Guardian her work included editing the Guardian Europe Diary and producing major features on German Jews, Kindertransport and Dance. Among these were interviews with Sylvie Guillem and Rudolf Nureyev. Living in France briefly, resulted in articles on Vichy and interviews with former Minister for Culture Jack Lang, politician Kofi Yamgane, and businessman Bernard Tapie.

Julia's prose work includes PRIMA BALLERINA ASSOLUTA in Virago's TRUTH DARE OR PROMISE, 1985. This was also printed in Boxtree's MEMOIRS OF A JEWISH CHILDHOOD. Her short story A FAST DIVORCE was published in The Jewish quarterly. She was Editor of the CONTEMPORARY THEATRE REVIEW (Volume 2 Part 3 1995) and WOMEN IN THEATRE for Harwood Academic Publishers (US).

She has won numerous prizes and awards including National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA). Writers' Residencies at The Wiener Library with a Leverhulme Grant, the University of York and Kingston University, the Lisa Ullman Travelling Scholarship, the Goethe Institute Scholarship, the Alfred Bradley Prize, Oppenheim-John Downes, European Association for Jewish Culturem, Moondance Prize for Crossing Jerusalem and grants from The Arts Council.

To find out more about Julia Pascal, please visit her website www.juliapascal.org

Other

Publication DetailsNotes

12:37

2022

Bloomsbury / Methuen

2013

Oberon Books

Sex, political violence in Stockholm, Tel Aviv and Paris.
Political murder in suburban London.
Death, love and homicide in New York.
War in the belly of a whale.

These are the themes in Julia Pascal's latest collection which takes place in London in 1946, Europe in 1982, Manhattan today and in a whale at anytime.

2012

Oberon Books

When Warsaw Ghetto-escapee Sarah visits the Venice Ghetto she happens to witness a group of actors staging a dress rehearsal of The Merchant of Venice, upon this chance encounter Sarah is confronted by the terrible story of 'The Jew' which touches her own life.

Through this emotive and provocative play Julia Pascal re-works Shakespeare’s controversial text, transposing the fervent theme of anti-Semitism raised by the bard, playing it out in a contemporary setting. Challenging the portrayal of 'The Jew' that for many years has dominated society's attitudes towards the Jewish people, Pascal ambitiously places her own text within Shakespeare's classic, producing a thoroughly thought-provoking and original work.

2003

Oberon Books

When Warsaw Ghetto-escapee Sarah visits the Venice Ghetto she happens to witness a group of actors staging a dress rehearsal of The Merchant of Venice, upon this chance encounter Sarah is confronted by the terrible story of 'The Jew' which touches her own life.

Crossing Jerusalem describes 24 hours in the life of an Israeli family in March 2002, as they cross Jerusalem at the beginning of the latest intifada. Over this 24 hours, personal and political history burst into the present. A complex family drama explodes in the most politically tense city in the world.

The Golem is inspired by the medieval Yiddish legend. This story, set in Prague, explores what happens when a monster is contructed to defend his community. This version is written for children.

Year Zero is a bitter-sweet satire inspired by interviews conducted in the north of France, where Communists, Gaulists, collaborators and those who were children during the 1940s, provided the original source of material. The play exposes the day to day experiences of the men and women who suffered or profited from those zero years.

Joan of Arc has, over five centuries, proved an irresistible and enduring icon for an extremely diverse group of people both within and without France. St Joan is a satire based on a Jewish Black Londoner who dreams she is the legendary Catholic Saint.

2003

Oberon Books

New York in the late 1930s: a once-famous Yiddish actress gives her theatre business over to her three daughters. The Yiddish Queen Lear is a story of love, infedelity, betrayal and exile, which examines the moment when Jewish East European and American cultures mix, on the eve of the Holocaust. Both a free reworking of Shakespeare’s King Lear and a homage to the lost world of Yiddish theatre, The Yiddish Queen Lear is a vibrant, funny and tragic study of the clashes and connections between two very different worlds.

"This play is an affecting and electic treat." Evening Standard (The Yiddish Queen Lear)

Woman In The Moon

Set in the United States, England and Germany, between 1920 and 2001, Woman In The Moon is a dream play inspired by both the legend of Faust and the testimonies of French, Austrian and German survivors from Camp Dora. It explores the connections between the US space programme, the V1 and V2 bombers, and the slave labour in the Third Reich.

"Brave, intelligent and desperately moving." The Guardian (Woman In The Moon)

2000

Oberon Books

Includes the plays Theresa, A Dead Woman on Holiday and The Dybbuk

Presented as a trilogy at the New End Theatre in 1995 before touring much of Europe, The Dybbuk pays homage to Anski’s great Russian classic. Set in a ghetto in Eastern Europe in 1942, it traces the final moments of five irreligious Jews. A Dead Woman on Holiday is a love story set during the Nuremberg trials. Theresa is based on secret research into the Channel Island occupation by the Nazis and the collaboration of the residents with the Holocaust. The play is still banned there.

Film, TV & Theatre

 

 

Julia is a playwright whose work has been performed widely in London, the UK, Germany, France, Belgium, Macedonia and the USA.  She has written for theatre, television and radio.

Her work explores political violence, war, conflict, trauma and those living on the edge. In 2015 she directed her play CROSSING JERUSALEM, to great success at the Park Theatre, London. For BBC Radio 4, she was commissioned for the series From Fact to Fiction, and wrote REVELATIONS, set in Manchester and inspired by the murder of Christians in an American church.  For Theatre Delicatessen she wrote OLD NEWLAND, which explores Zionism/antiZionism from the point of view of an elderly Dublin Jew, as part of their season Walking The Tightrope.

Awards include the National Endowment for Science, Technology and the Arts (NESTA) for which she received a Dreamtime Fellowship. For BBC Radio her play THE ROAD TO PARADISE, was nominated for a Sony Prize and won an Alfred Bradley Award.   Her play, ST JOAN, was chosen as one of the few modern plays to be workshopped and presented at New York's Lincoln Center Director's Lab.  Her version of THE DYBBUK had its US premiere at Theatre for the New City after widely touring Europe. She has been Writer in Residence at the University of York, Kingston University and The Wiener Library. She teaches Writing at New York University’s London campus.

Her plays are published by Oberon Books.

They include: Theresa, A Dead Woman On Holiday, The Dybbuk in the volume The Holocaust Trilogy,  The Yiddish Queen Lear/Woman On The Bridge,  Crossing Jerusalem, The Golem, St Joan, Year Zero,  The Shylock Play. Woman On The Bridge, Honeypot,Nineveh, Broken English in the volume Political Plays.

www.juliapascal.org

DANCING, TALKING, TABOO

Pascal Theatre Company recently collaborated with The Place Dance Theatre to create experimental dance theatre pieces for the Bloomsbury Festival.

This site-specific performance is their first since lockdown and celebrated  their return to creative projects by honouring the lives of the women we have recorded in our Giving Voice Project.  https://www.pascal-theatre.com/project/giving-voice/

This exciting collaboration brought the influences of 20th century cabaret, Mary Wigman, Valeska Gert, Hilde Holger, Bertolt Brecht, Rudolf Laban, to the expression of previously unheard voices through voice and body. The dancers are supported by performer Amanda Maud a musician, actor and dancer in her own right.

 

 

Radio

ProductionCompanyNotes

THE CRIME THAT ONLY WOMEN COMMIT

2022

BBC World Service

Writer and Presenter

REVELATIONS

2015

BBC RADIO

Fact to Fiction series

TOWARDS THE LIGHT

2015

Radio 4

Short Story

THE ROAD TO PARADISE

1996

Radio 4

Adaptation of stage play THERESA

Television

ProductionCompanyNotes

CHARLOTTE & JANE

1982

BBC

30 minute drama/documentary

Theatre

ProductionCompanyNotes

AN UNSUITABLE JOB FOR A WOMEN

2023

Pascal Theatre Company

Written and directed by Julia Pascal

12-37

2022

FINBOROUGH THEATRE

Written and directed by Julia Pascal

DANCING, TALKING, TABOO!

2021

Bloomsbury Festival/ Pascal Theatre Company

BLUEPRINT MEDEA

2019

Finborough Theatre

Written and directed by Julia Pascal

TAKING THE STAGE: THREE SISTERS

2019

MK Gallery

Written by Julia Pascal
Directed by Rosemary Hill

CROSSING JERUSALEM

2015

Pascal Theatre Company

at Park Theatre, London

ST JOAN

2015

Pascal Theatre Company

tour - London, Dublin & Liechtenstein

THE WEDDING PARTY

2013

Pascal Theatre Company

The Actors Centre (John Thaw Studio)

NINEVEH

2013

Théatre Témoin

at Riverside Studios

HONEYPOT

2011

Pascal Theatre Company at Diorama Theatre

THE WEDDING PARTY

Ohrid Festival

Macedonia

THE DYBBUK

2010

Theater for The New City

New York City

THE MERCHANT OF VENICE A Radical Interpretation

2009

Pascal Theatre Company

MAN IS MAN

2009

RADA

Director

CROSSING JERUSALEM

LONDON CONTINENTAL

2009

THE YIDDISH QUEEN LEAR/WOMAN IN THE MOON

2009

CROSSING JERUSALEM

2009

Tricycle Theatre

WOMAN ON THE MOON

2009

Arcola Theatre

CHARLOTTE BRONTE GOES TO EUROPE

2009

British Library

FAR ABOVE RUBIES

1983

The Drill Hall

THE GOLEM

2004

Purcell Room

Touring play for youth.

CROSSING JERUSALEM

2003

Tricycle Theatre

WOMAN ON THE MOON

2001

Arcola Theatre

KING DAVID HOTEL

2000

Arcola Theatre

20/20

2000

The Lyric Theatre/Amici Dance Theatre

For able bodied and disabled dancers

THE YIDDISH QUEEN LEAR

1999

Southwark Playhouse

HEROINE

1997

London Schools

ST JOAN

1997

New End Theatre,

L'ANNEE ZERO

1996

Maubeuge's International Theatre Festival / Cambridge

THERESA, A DEAD WOMAN ON HOLIDAY & THE DYBBUK presented together as THE HOLOCAUST TRILOGY

1995

New End Theatre

L'ANNEE ZERO

1995

Maubege Festival

THE DYBBUK

1992

New End Theatre

A DEAD WOMAN ON HOLIDAY

1991

Holborn Centre for Performing Arts

ELEGY

Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith

MEN SELDOM MAKE PASSES

National Theatre

THERESA

Gulbenkian Studio Theatre, New End Theatre

THERESA in MYTHIC WOMEN/REAL WOMEN

2009

Faber

THE HOLOCAUST TRILOGY

2009

Published by Oberon Books

THE GOLEM

2009

Published by Oberon Books

ST JOAN

2009

Published by Oberon Books

YEAR ZERO

2009

Published by Oberon Books

CROSSING JERUSALEM

2009

Published by Oberon Books

THE SHYLOCK PLAY

2009

Published by Oberon Books

FAR ABOVE RUBIES

1983

Drill Hall