Shampoo Queen

A new production of the musical satire by Hanoch Levin

Jaffa Theatre presents a newly updated version of the musical satire “Shampoo Queen” by the playwright Hanoch Levin, first performed at the Cameri Theatre in 1970 under the full title “Shampoo Queen: A Satirical Review in Two Parts – A Brotherhood Shadowed by Military Threat”.

The musical was written in response to the victory of the Six-Day War, where Levin saw a smugness that characterized those days. Unfortunately, due the difference in opinion, Levin’s musical caused a social uproar and was therefore taken down as a result.

“Shampoo Queen” is a work comprised of twenty-one pieces – some are songs and others are a multifaceted-discourse – that showcase the political atmosphere and policies placed aimlessly because of Israeli pride and arrogance.

In this play, Levin predicted the governmental policies enacted upon the conclusion of the war would become problematic. This production flaunts a manifestation of ridicule and a severe grotesqueness, which was characteristically fitting to Levin.

The new production is performed in Hebrew by a director and four Arab actors/singers that provide a new and ironic perspective on the known text.

In the depth of the night, unseen
In the pale moonlight
Good people go out to the garden
They give out blue gas in self-satisfaction
For the flower cups
We are OK people
People that are very OK
A generation goes and a generation comes, and we stand forever
We are OK people
People that are very OK
A finger in the butt a song in the throat
It’s good it stinks and its warm

The Play is in Hebrew
Show length: 90 min