Following award-winning seasons in Melbourne and Sydney - including at Arts Centre Melbourne, Malthouse Theatre and a five-star run at the Sydney Opera House - the acclaimed Australian production YENTL will make its international premiere in London at the Marylebone Theatre from 6 March – 12 April 2026.

YENTL in London is a highlight of Melbourne’s Kadimah Yiddish Theatre’s 100th anniversary year.  Kadimah Yiddish Theatre (KYT) is on a roll, garnering 26 theatre awards nominations across its last four productions and winning nine, cementing its position as one of Australia’s most dynamic independent theatre companies.

An Australian Reimagining Goes Global
Developed and premiered at Arts Centre Melbourne before its acclaimed Sydney Opera House season,  YENTL reimagines Isaac Bashevis Singer’s original story written in Yiddish through a contemporary lens. This bilingual staging blends Yiddish and English, bringing Singer’s world into sharp modern focus.

Set in an 1870s Polish shtetl, the story follows a young woman who disguises herself as a man to pursue Jewish learning forbidden to her. As she steps deeper into a world of possibility and conflict, YENTL explores faith, gender, desire and the cost of living one’s truth. This new adaptation is as relevant today as it was 150 years ago. Star Observer wrote of the Sydney Opera House season: “The crowd — Jewish, goy, straight, bi, gay, lesbian or transgender — rose as one to their feet for a standing ovation.”

Australian critics hailed this multi-award-winning production:
*****   “A remarkable bi-lingual play”  The Age (Melbourne)
*****   “Nothing short of magic”  Time Out (Sydney)
*****   “Flawless”  Theatre Matters (Melbourne)

Hailed as a bilingual modern masterpiece, YENTL invites London audiences to celebrate Yiddish culture and the revival of its endangered language in this new stage adaptation of Nobel Prize laureate Isaac Bashevis Singer’s iconic short story.
 

Australian Cast and Creatives Head to London

The following Sydney Opera House cast will reprise their roles in London:
Amy Hack as Yentl
Genevieve Kingsford as Hodes
Evelyn Krape as The Figure

Award-winning Creative Team:
Developed by: Gary Abrahams, Galit Klas & Evelyn  Krape
Director: Gary Abrahams
Co-writers: Gary Abrahams, Galit Klas & Elise Esther Hearst
Set & Costume Design: Dann Barber
Lighting Design: Rachel Burke
Composition & Sound Design: Max Lyandvert
Yiddish Translation: Professor Rivke Margolis

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