We started with the 'soft-launch'. A few friends over the first couple nights, a couple low key Jewish theatre group rehearsals for a piece I'm directing for Limmud Conference in December... We've been looking and talking about this long enough for a general wave of excitement to have built up over the weeks (see coverage in the Jewish Chronicle for just what this project means in the context of the British Jewish community) so it was if people already knew and were waiting with baited breath.
And was it worth the wait! Undeniably, this first month was all about our opening party on Oct 20th. Over 200 people came to celebrate on the night. We even made national radio, BBC Radio 1 - our next door neighbour is one of their most popular DJs and spent an entire 5 minutes speaking about "the wild party they threw next door" with live sax, piano and hip hop! (She has since gone on to speak on air about Joseph's piano-playing - it's a blessing he's "actually very good" she said.)
Since then we had artists and other community members round to talk about future projects and possibilities, in an evening that ended in a big game of Torah charades. My impression of the Goat for Azazel went down particularly well.
What else? A lot of hugs. Dan reading out Jill Hammer's Jewish Book of Days each night in what's become a bit of a before-bed ritual. Lots of exciting prospects and projects in the offing. It's been new beginnings all round, as I started my new MA in Applied Drama at Goldsmiths College. So it's been Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays in school, running around and playing games like a loon, and then Thursdays, Fridays and Weekends back at the house, running around and playing games like a loon. Talking of loons, I dressed up as Teen Wolf for Halloween - definitely one of my finest costume creations.
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