Israeli playwright and drama teacher Gur Piepskovitz is fascinated by stories of otherness, and his latest work, an “LGBTQ+ anti-romcom", is certainly one such story.
Inspired by a painful breakup of his own, Earworm, which he describes as a “sweet and sinister comedy”, follows main character and cabaret performer Guy, who strains to be understood by both his audience and his partner, John. As his relationship breaks down, Guy’s search for the perfect breakup song to describe his situation leads him on a journey through loneliness, self-discovery and validation.
Israeli playwright Gur Piepskovitz has been living in London since 2014 (Photo: Facebook)
“Instead of picking the scabs of my breakup and ruminating over mistakes, I scratched for sounds and lyrics—the more familiar and epic, the better,” says Piepskovitz.
“Is an LGBTQ+ ending different from any other breakup? It’s essentially the same though it might remind the individual that, as they suspected as a child, they were born to be 'other' and, therefore, lonely.”
Rehearsals for Earworm at The Divine. (Photo: Naomi Barrett)
“I am super interested in what it means to have a collective DNA: how the trauma of my Jewish family has shaped me as a Jewish person, and how also my trauma growing up queer in a heteronormative world informs who I am,” Piepskovitz says.
He’s been exploring these ideas in his work as a writer, director and performer of fringe theatre since he moved to London in 2014 from his native Tel Aviv, where he was a stage and screen actor.
"I love writing in Hebrew, but there was something highly liberating about not writing in my own language,” says Piepskovitz, who also teaches drama at a secondary school in London. “Writing drama and characters in a language that was not mine allowed me to have perspective and to be playful.”
His last play The Demons of Jerusalem, performed in 2021 at The Glory in London explored the life, death and sexuality of Dutch-Jewish writer Jacob Israel De Haan.
"[De Haan] is a fantastic character because he was a Zionist who became an anti-Zionist, and he was Orthodox. He also began his political life as a communist and was gay. He had multiple realities, if you like, and that is the human experience.”
Although Earworm does not contain any overtly Jewish or Israeli characters, the fact that Piepskovitz is Israeli has been enough to raise eyebrows within London’s largely pro-Palestinian theatre community, which Piepskovitz sees as symptomatic of society’s seeming inability to live with moral complexity lately.
"I did hear that a producer said to someone: ‘I hope [Piepskovitz] is not going to mention he's Israeli when he's promoting the show.’ And I just found it really both interesting and cynical, even if it was just a tip from a marketing point of view.”
Not that this is new territory for Piepskovitz. Shortly after he moved to London ten years ago, “two really lovely English ladies asked me where I'm from and when I replied Israel one of them said, ‘oh, I hope you don't mind, but I'm pro-Palestinian'
“I answered, well, I hope you don't mind, but I'm pro-human being. The idea that they thought it was OK to speak to me like that, as if I'm an object to discuss in relation to their political opinion.”
But the writer is not easily defeated, and even as he recognises that preconceived notions about his Israeli identity have intensified since he first moved to London, he says he will remain optimistic – and continue to create theatrical work that conveys the complexity of being human.
Earworm will be performed at The Divine in Stoke Newington, London, October 20-23
