Battle of the Boobas

For one week only, London is staging a Battle of the Boobas as two balabustas face off from opposite ends of the Northern Line.

In the South corner, at the Southwark Playhouse, Beverly Klein is the fearsome Rivka, tragically bearing the scars and the responsibilities as the last survivor of the Holocaust in Memoriam.

Opposite Klein, at Hampstead’s Circle & Stars venue, and all the way from Brooklyn, NYC, in Wits End Sue Kelvin plays the formidable Aunt Phyllis. A family matriarch with, as is to be expected, not one kind word to offer to her niece and nephews and a maniacal urge to make a shidduch for her youngest nephew Yitzy.

Klein v Kelvin is a well-matched clash of heavyweight (artistically speaking of course) talent, and while their respective scripts may be of differing genres (and, it should be said, quality), both women are acting at the very top of their game. These characters are women who have seen it all, who certainly know it all and who as actresses, most definitely give it their all.

Who will triumph in this knockout contest? Only one way to find out. Buy yourself a ticket and decide for yourself. But don’t delay. Memoriam closes on November 21 and Wits End the following day.