A
Jewish
atheist, Pascal's stage plays include three grouped together as
The Holocaust Trilogy. The first of these is
Theresa, based on historical accounts of a Jewish woman in
Guernsey during the
German occupation in the Second World War. Original music for the play was composed by
Kyla Greenbaum. It is followed by
A Dead Woman on Holiday, which is set during the
Nuremberg Trials, followed by her adaptation of
Solomon Anski's
The Dybbuk.
Crossing Jerusalem is about the conflict in the Middle East.
The Golem is a version of the Prague myth of the
Golem for young audiences.
St Joan is a satire based on a Jewish Black Londoner who dreams she is
Joan of Arc.
Year Zero reveals World War II stories from
Vichy France. In 2007, her adaptation of
The Merchant of Venice was staged at the
Arcola Theatre and printed as
The Shylock Play in 2009. Her autobiographical essay "Prima Ballerina Assoluta" appeared in a
Virago Press collection
Truth, Dare or Promise. Her other plays include
The Yiddish Queen Lear and
Woman In The Moon.
Oberon Press publishes the texts of her plays.
The Dybbuk premiered in London at the
New End Theatre, Hampstead, in July 1992, then the
Lilian Baylis Theatre. Since 1992 it has played in Munich at the Festival of Jewish Theatre, at Maubeuge's International Theatre Festival, in Poland (
British Council tour), Sweden, Belgium and on a British regional tour.
The Dybbuk had its US premiere at
Theater for the New City in New York City in August 2010.
The Wedding Party (known as
Bloody Wedding) was premiered at the Ohrid Festival 2012, Macedonia, and was performed at the Actor's Centre, London, in 2013. Her play
Nineveh was produced by
Theatre Témoin at
Riverside Studios in 2013.
St Joan was produced at the Edinburgh Festival in August 2014 at the
Bedlam Theatre. Pascal's play
Crossing Jerusalem became the centre of controversy in early 2016 when the Michael-Ann Russell Jewish Community Center's Cultural Arts Theatre in North Miami-Dade cut short the play's schedule, bending to members of the Jewish community who found the play to be critical of Israel. The
Miami Herald said the incident "has left raw feelings among those who call the cancellation a capitulation to politics and those who say the play was deeply and needlessly hurtful". Pascal protested that “the intent of the play was to show the complexity of Israeli life”, and called the early closure "censorship."
Forward magazine commented: "The controversy mirrors others faced by American JCCs over media perceived to be critical of Israel, notably in Washington and New York".
Crossing Jerusalem was produced at the
Karlsruhe Staatstheater as
Mittendurch Jerusalem, translated by Thomas Huber. Pascal's television drama documentary for the BBC,
Charlotte and Jane, won awards from
BAFTA and the
Royal Television Society. In 2019 her play inspired by Kurdish women soldiers,
Blueprint Medea, premiered at The Finborough Theatre, London. At the same theatre her play about Irish and Jewish nationalism,
12-37, premiered in 2022. Her semi-staged reading of
As Happy As God In France was seen at Burgh House, Hampstead for Holocaust Memorial Day 2023.
A Manchester Girlhood premiered at the Old Electric Theatre, Blackpool, and
Manchester Jewish Museum in 2023. Site specific plays
Dancing, Talking Taboo! were performed at the Bloomsbury Festival 2021. In 2022 the Festival presented her
Dancing, Trailblazing Taboo, about the life of
Eleanor Marx. ==References==