In a tragifarce that resonates as much today as it did when it was written fifty years ago, three friends weigh up a life unlived versus risk taking. Yohanan, Bella and Shmuel have average-sized dreams. They want sex, money and love. But is playing it safe really the best way to go about turning them into a reality? This fast-paced tragifarce recalibrates a 1970s play by celebrated Israeli playwright Hanoch Levin for a 2020s audience. Created by Gamayun Theatre, the comedy is devised by an international creative ensemble fully invested in cross-cultural dialogue and the sharing of different perspectives.

The Rubber Merchants is an tragifarce with songs and condoms about the dangers of always staying safe. Yohanan, Bella, and Shmuel dream of all the usual things: sex, money, and love; but as they set out to get them, they discover that in order to make their dreams come true, they must inevitably take risks.

Written by a celebrated Israeli playwright in 1970s, this story is finding new relevance in the modern post-lockdown world, where people, surrounded by comforts of on-demand streaming, online deliveries and dating apps, no longer feel comfortable with taking everyday life risks of the outside world.

Devised and performed by an international creative ensemble, cross-cultural bridge-building is at the heart of this project. The Rubber Merchants unites in it the absurdist comedy of Israeli literature of 20th century, Ukrainian theatre tradition and British styles of performance. This is an eternal theme of tragedy of the life unlived, especially relevant and controversial in the current climate of post-lockdown confusion around and reluctance to risk exposure.

This Valentine’s!

Why not watch an online screening of Gamayun Theatre’s premiere performance of 2019’s DRAGON? We are opening our online screening of the show for free as a Valentine’s present to our audience!