Edinburgh Fringe 2024
Daniel Cainer’s Jewish Chronicles
Daniel Cainer
Genre: Cabaret, Musical Theatre, Variety Show
Venue: Underbelly George Square
Festival: Edinburgh Fringe
Low Down
Daniel Cainer is back to the Edinburgh Fringe with his unique hour of songs and stories, some of them old favourites and some new pieces. In this solo show, Cainer invites you to pull up a chair, come into his living room, and join him while he shares his life’s adventures. The songs make you laugh, bring you to tears, warm your heart and break your heart.
Review
Daniel Cainer is back to the Edinburgh Fringe with his unique hour of songs and stories, some of them old favourites and some new pieces. The writing is very clever, and the tunesmithing perfectly matches the style and theme of each piece. The songs make you laugh, bring you to tears, warm your heart and break your heart.
In this solo show, Cainer invites you to pull up a chair, come into his living room, and join him while he shares his life’s adventures with you as if you are an old friend, even if it is your first encounter. You are welcomed to his family through his music. He shares his joys as well as his difficult times. He is affable and charming, handily accompanying his expressive singing on a keyboard. There is a twinkle in his eye as he uses jokes, puns and turns of phrases to cleverly build his tales.
The songs are accompanied by photos, graphics and videos from his childhood, his family, and scenes that illustrate the storylines. There are some that are funny, and some that are serious pieces of history. All of the images add an extra dimension to the show and are well-matched to the narrative.
In clever formatting, the show is divided into several “acts”, like a theatrical play. These loosely follow the sections of a Shabbat service.
Cainer has spent years performing in Edinburgh and taking note of the intricacies and challenges of mounting a show at the Fringe. He aptly describes all of that in his opening tune, “Welcome to Edinburgh”, noting the fantastic sites and the even more fantastic high cost of summer housing.
Influenced by his Jewish upbringing, Daniel shares his observances through the lens of his heritage. But the tales are relatable to everyone in the audience from any cultural background. The themes are universal.
Cainer’s family is complex. Although they lived in London, roots were from around the world, like many Jewish families. His second tune, “God Knows Where”, describes the journey taken by so many Jewish immigrants to new lands. “They arrive at immigration and can hardly spell their name.” So they are given names like Brown, Green, Silver or Gold. As he sings, “we are all on a journey to God knows where.” But they never lose their traditions.
“Yiddishkeit” talks about tradition. Some of the family members were very observant Jews, and others not so much. There were the requisite Friday night dinners, but a little rule-breaking when it came to driving to synagogue on Saturday when the edict for Orthodox Jews prohibited the use of machines on the Sabbath.
Family was important in Cainer’s life, and still is a focus. In fact, his son and grandson attended the performance I witnessed. In “Grandpa and Me”, Cainer reminisces about the day they attended a football match and the bonding between the generations that was so special.
A funny interlude is “Leonard Cohen Does the Housework”, a rare parody from Cainer but very clever. There’s a song about a “Bad God”, and “No Amount of Worry”.
Then there was his father’s affair with a non-Jewish woman, which is described in his hilarious closing number, “Surbiton Washerama”. On Sunday mornings, his father would take the dirty clothes to the laundromat while his mother stayed home. One day a beautiful woman showed up with laundry and his father could not resist. Their affair escalated and was carried out in a closed florist shop next door. All was well until Cainer’s mother found a note from the temptress announcing her pregnancy. That split up Cainer’s family. The father ended up marrying the woman and the mother found another man. There is a funny twist at the end of the song. Plus the audience is invited to sing along with the choruses.
A truly enjoyable hour, you will leave on a high note with a smile, and with the tunes swirling through your head. The heartwarming songs and stories from this masterful writer and entertainer will be a memorable Fringe experience.
