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Lottie is a Holocaust survivor with a mission, and that mission is to silence - once and for all - the world-renowned revisionist documentary-maker and Holocaust-denier, Magnus. In order to do this, she conceives a plan whereby she will invite him to open an exhibition, ostensibly as part of a fund-raising drive designed to raise backing for his next documentary.
But there are two things she omits to mention in her invitation: First, the fact that the venue for the fundraiser is the Jewish Holocaust Museum and, second, the nature of the chief exhibit. For it is Lottie's ambition to create a massive mural using the excised tattoos from the forearms of 3,500 Holocaust survivors.
Herman, the curator of the museum, is understandably appalled, and vetoes the plan. But Lottie will achieve her ends by fair means or foul.
In a fast-moving play that weaves its way skilfully through the complex web of relationships that exists between its five characters, Blood Libel places us on a collision course with what lies at the very core of anti-semitism. In so doing, however, it also paints a far broader canvas delineating the nature of the blood libel that each of us carries close to our heart.
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Male | Unspecified | under 3 minutes
Starts on page 65
EXTRACT: A Jew? Me a Jew?.. Who among us would wish to be a Jew? Who among us has not railed against the Jew? Do we not mistrust his eyes? Those dark, brooding, scheming eyes. Do we not avoid his hands? Those pale, bony, deceitful, money-changing hands. Do we not suspect his senses? Those same misguided senses that lead him to feel that he can live amongst us, yet not live amongst us, yet be counted as one of us.
Adult themesFemale | Unspecified | 3 to 5 minutes
Starts on page 100
EXTRACT: .. Yes, we are cunning, we are tenacious, we are opportunistic. Why? Because you've forced us to be that way. You've made of us what we are today. And if you hate us, it's because we're so good at it. We can't afford to be any less than that, or we'd be dead. So was Shylock right? I am a Jew.
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