Wednesday 6 – Saturday 9 November 2013
Kindertransport
By Diane Samuels (Nick Hern Books)
Directed by Chris Hayes
The German word 'Kindertransport' translated literally into English means 'the transportation of children'. It was how Jewish parents, in desperation, tried to get their children out of the growing Nazi territory.
The killing of a German Diplomat by a young Jew in November 1938 gave the Nazis the opportunity to engineer a huge increase in momentum. Thousands of Jewish businesses and institutions were destroyed and Jews were assaulted, killed and 30,000 herded into concentration camps. It was in response to this program, known as Kristallnacht, that the movement for the Care of Children from Germany was formed, supported by World Jewish Relief in the UK, rescuing almost 10,000 unaccompanied children, before the outbreak of war just nine months later.
Kindertransport explores how humans survive after they have suffered deep emotional trauma and how the damage caused is passed onto the following generation. At its heart, the play is about that universal and timeless aspect of human experience: the separation of a child from its parent.
Past and present are wound around each other throughout the play. They are not distinct but inextricably connected. The re-running of what happened many years ago is not there to explain how things are now, but is part of the inner life of the present — Diane Samuels
Cast
Evelyn - Sofi-Jo Bennett
Faith - Alice May Feetham
Eva - Franziska Brunzel-Roberts
Helga - Amy Clark
Lil - Rachel Kilpatrick
The Ratcatcher, Postman, English Organiser, Station Guard, Border Official - Harry Parsons
Designer: Olivia Du Monceau