About
Since 2005, Julia Pascal, Artistic Director of Pascal Theatre Company, has been researching the journeys and histories of the Sephardi Jews who left Spain and Portugal at the end of the 15th century to find refuge in the Balkans and across the Mediterranean basin.
THE PROJECT SO FAR
The aim of Discovering and Documenting England’s Lost Jews is to develop awareness and understanding of the contribution of Sephardi Jews to English history and society.
Sephardim led the re-establishment of a thriving Jewish presence in England in the 17th century. Nowadays they are no more than a small minority within Anglo-Jewry. Their history, culture and traditions are relatively little known in the UK, even within the broader Jewish community.
Pascal Theatre Company explored this little known Sephardi history from 2018 to 2021. The team explored archives, interviewed those whose families had escaped the Inquisition, made links between Spain, the Middle East and Africa and unearthed secret stories. This website offers insights into our discoveries. It is quirky, theatrical, provocative and meant to excite the curious.
ONE LOST STONE
The One Lost Stone section of this site offers an inspiring artistic journey and multimedia response to the Novo Cemetery and Sephardi histories. One Lost Stone reveals elements of the secret legacies of Jews coming to England and features dynamic personalities including boxer Daniel Mendoza and the woman believed to be Shakespeare’s Dark Lady, Emilia Bassano. One Lost Stone is a team collaboration directed by Thomas Kampe, and features film, performance, poetry, research, exciting stories and music.