★★½

“an important story with a compelling core and an impressive cast”

After two sold out 2024 runs, ‘Cable Street’ marches back into London. Based on the Battle of Cable Street, where ordinary people stood up to antisemitism and fascism, this musical offers a timely take on community but never quite finds its rhythm.

October 1936. Fascism is rising across Europe. Oswald Mosley’s antisemitic British Union of Fascists (BUF) plans to march through London’s Jewish East End. East Enders amass in their thousands in protest, reaching boiling point at Cable Street. The crowds roar “¡No pasarán!” (“They shall not pass”) – but can they hold the line, and at what cost?

Reworked since its 2024 productions, ‘Cable Street’ has a strong core but muddled execution. Alex Kanefsky’s book distils events into three quintessentially East End perspectives – Jewish, Irish and working class British. Kanefsky sharply captures how the increasingly disenfranchised, working class Ron is drawn in by the BUF, and how anger pushes Jewish Sammy to the brink of murder, offering a clear-eyed look at human complexity. Each period of unrest cleverly shifts the communities from resistance to rupture to resolve, emphasising the message of strength through solidarity.

Other elements land less well. The wider narrative feels scattered and superficial, juggling multiple families, supporting characters, conflicts and even centuries. The shared flat scenes grow more engaging as the families interweave, but never quite land on what binds them. Even central character arcs feel loose: the Sammy-Mairead romance (briefly a triangle with Ron) fizzles out by Act 2; and Ron’s unravelling feels underdeveloped. The present day frame – opening without a strong hook, fading out in Act 2, and ending on an underwhelming note – fades alongside the far richer 1930s thread.

Adam Lenson’s direction, with associate Hetty Hodgson‍, sharpens Sammy and Ron’s inner struggles and adds real weight to the mothers’ perspectives. However, there are some puzzling choices: the Hamilton style Act 1 button feels overfamiliar, the candy coloured BUF number is tonally confusing, the Times sandwich board feels cartoonish, and the leaflet based ‘violent resistance’ feels unintentionally ironic. Several sections feel static, with sparse and sometimes simple choreography from Jevan Howard Jones‍ which makes Sammy’s fluid street dance feel a little incongruous.

Tim Gilvin’s score, supervised by Tamara Saringer and directed by Dan Glover with Bianca Fung assisting, taps into the 1930s East End’s multicultural soundscape, blending Irish folk, Klezmer, Jewish liturgy and Caribbean influences. However, it’s also crammed with contemporary styles, such as R&B, drum and bass, and a big dose of rap for Sammy, which don’t always gel. Furthermore, genres change abruptly mid song – sometimes more than once – and don’t always align with dramatic tone. However, ‘Only Words’ and ‘Stranger/Sister’ are beautiful stand out songs. The band (Elizabeth Boyce, Robyn Brown, Joel Mulley, Max Alexander-Taylor) delivers a richness that belies their small size.

Yoav Segal’s set design is striking, with the bleak, raw exterior softening into the families’ homes. Sam Waddington and Ben Jacobs’ lighting leans into these contrasts with some strikingly dramatic moments, though others could be further developed. Charlie Smith and associate Mike Woods’ sound design is initially a little imbalanced but settles. The use of effects in high stakes moments is slick and impactful. Lu Herbert’s costumes feature slick transitions between present day and 1936, and similarities between the three families reinforce the sense they’re not so different after all.

The ensemble cast is superb. Isaac Gryn is outstanding as Sammy, oozing raw emotion and irresistible charisma, with commanding vocals and assured movement. Barney Wilkinson charts Ron’s radicalisation with striking authenticity and a stunning belt. Preeya Kalidas’ Edie and Elizabeth steal the show, pairing rich, soaring vocals with gritty, raw emotion. Jez Unwin shapeshifts effortlessly between multiple characters — sometimes within seconds — delivering ‘No Words’ with richness and emotional heft. Romona Lewis Malley gives Rosa’s supporting role real dimension and sings with impeccable precision.

‘Cable Street’ tells an important story with a compelling core and an impressive cast. However, several elements need refining for the production to land with the weight it deserves.

CABLE STREET at Southwark Playhouse Borough

★★★

“a good effort to remind the audience of the power of the people against malevolent political forces”

It’s not often that you get a musical written about your old street. As a previous resident of one of the roads leading off Cable Street, I’ve passed by the large mural commemorating the 1936 Battle of Cable Street numerous times without looking deeply into this symbol of mass resistance to fascism.

Now, in the model of Hamilton or Operation Mincemeat, writers Alex Kanefsky (book) and Tim Gilvin (music and lyrics) have pulled together a reflective show that uses song and dance to surface this lesser-known historic event. As in Hamilton, the music reflects a variety of cultures, with hip hop references layered on top of Jewish and Irish musical references. As in Operation Mincemeat, the fascists get arguably the best song.

For those who were not paying attention to their interwar British history, the Battle of Cable Street is so named after the road on which a patchwork army of Jewish, Irish, Socialist and Trade Union groups held back thousands of Oswald Moseley’s British Union of Fascists set on marching through what was then a predominantly Jewish area of East London. The musical interpretation uses the story of three families to explore just some of the hundreds of thousands in the motley coalition. The Battle of Cable Street has since become known as the day that fascism in Britain was defeated, and prevented it ever gaining a political hold on the country.

The show is framed by a modern day East End walking tour recounting this history, with an overbearing tourist from New York asking questions about her mother, once a local. This walking tour pops up in several scenes, either interrupting the events playing out in 1936, or contrasting with rival (and rather tasteless) Jack the Ripper tours that stomp the same cobbled streets.

If the stories of three families and two warring walking tours sounds like a few too many strands, you might be correct. At times the compact performance space of the Southwark Playhouse felt a little cramped; this worked well when presenting about the claustrophobic housing, and less so when trying to follow contrasting narratives. Actors playing instruments on stage to accompany the semi-concealed band also contributed to the cluttering of the space. Aoife Mac Namara’s fiddle made sense in the numbers with a gaelic undertone, but the electric guitar felt out of place.

The central playing space is surrounded on three sides by seating, with the back wall covered with haphazard wired and wooden fencing. On stage is a large bureau, two desks and chairs pushed against the back. These are regularly repositioned to create the different scenes, with the simplicity working well. On the whole, the set (Yoav Segal) and props were used effectively, except a very obviously homemade horse head used to represent a police cavalry came across as more Blue Peter than War Horse.

Of the 1936 events, Sha Dessi as Mairead Kenny, daughter of an Irish immigrant, drives the show forward with strong vocals and resolute determination. Dessi’s character has to balance fervent revolutionary zeal with a laundry list of responsibilities. She meets and falls for Sammy Scheinberg (Joshua Ginsberg), the rapping son of Jewish family living close who is struggling to find work. Similarly, Ron Williams (Danny Colligan) is a northerner from Lancashire who is also failing to find any work, but unlike Sammy who gets influenced by Mairead into coming along to communist meetings, Ron falls into the fascist embrace.

The ensemble cast was stuffed with talent, with supporting actors contending with multiple character changes. Debbie Chazen as the visiting New Yorker, Mairead’s Irish mother, and also a bumbling police officer was a standout, as was Jade Johnson whose solo Stranger / Sister was performed with sensitivity and power. Sophia Ragavelas who leads one of the strongest songs in the show – a rousing No Pasaran in the model of Les Miserables barricade scene – was also a highlight.

There are many things that work well with Cable Street, though ultimately it neither gets the high tension and deep emotion of Hamilton, or the tongue in cheek hilarity of Mincemeat. The ending is unsatisfactory – with a rush of events that threaten to derail the entire show and saved by the unveiling of a man who we already know isn’t dead. As a small point, the modern day East End is not well represented – there’s only one mention of the Bangladeshi community in passing (a 1978 murder) who have contributed so much to the area in the past 50 years.

Given the current political environment and rise of antisemitism across the UK, this is a good effort to remind the audience of the power of the people against malevolent political forces, featuring a strong selection of upbeat musical numbers. However, a little more restraint from director Adam Lenson, or a pruning of the dense narratives might have helped tell this important story a little better.

Tag Archives: Alex Kanefsky

CABLE STREET

★★½

Marylebone Theatre

CABLE STREET

Marylebone Theatre

★★½

“an important story with a compelling core and an impressive cast”

CABLE STREET

Marylebone Theatre

Reviewed on 26th January 2026

by Hannah Bothelton

Photography by Johan Persson

CABLE STREET

CABLE STREET

CABLE STREET

CABLE STREET

★★★

Southwark Playhouse Borough

CABLE STREET at Southwark Playhouse Borough

★★★

“a good effort to remind the audience of the power of the people against malevolent political forces”