Goldfish

Before you watch Goldfish, written by and starring Jessica Kinsella, if you live outside the US you may not be familiar with the popularity of White Elephant gift exchanges in Jewish American social life. These light-hearted rituals are a common feature of synagogue events, holiday gatherings, and community socials. Borrowed from wider American culture, they value humour over usefulness: the pleasure lies less in the gift itself than in the laughter, storytelling, and social mixing it generates. In a community that often uses comedy to navigate tradition and expectation, the White Elephant exchange works as an easy icebreaker, reinforcing connection and shared identity through collective amusement rather than formality. Or does it (in this particular case)?

OK, explanation over - and yes, you probably could have worked that out anyway. Jessica, convinced that her “brilliant and hilarious” White Elephant gift will inevitably attract a potential future husband, settles on… a goldfish. Acquiring said goldfish proves more challenging than anticipated, and the reactions of the other guests at the party are, unsurprisingly, not quite what she had in mind. This may not be the moment when Jessica finds her match. Or is it?

This is a very tightly scripted piece with a satisfyingly circular ending, delivering a final punch just when you think it has already landed (wait and see - you’ll know when you know). It is also tightly directed by Alexis Krause.