Kindertransport

As time passes fewer and fewer remain who can really tell what it felt like to be exiled as a Jewish child from Nazi Germany. Which is why this excellent play is not only a great piece of theatrical entertainment but also a superb lesson for those of us too young to grasp an element of the devastation that Hitler’s Nazi party caused.

Kindertransport not only explores those horrors but also the impact of being plucked from your home and your natural parents. The sadness of leaving behind those you love and being thrust into an alien country. And there, not only to not be able to speak the language but to also face prejudices, this time not for your faith but simply for being German.

The play goes further and  explores the traumatic effect of finding a new life and dealing with the emotional strings that tie you to your past. A new adoptive mother, name and lifestyle become a norm that offers some comfort but  also bears scars, emotional damage that  remains and this forms the core of the play.

Andrew Hall directs a stunning cast with confidence yet delicacy. There are no screaming histrionics and the few real outbursts are tempered with a genuine sense of tragedy and grief. Gabrielle Dempsey metamorphoses from frightened child to confident exile with great skill. Emma Deegan as her mother is chillingly contained as she prepares her child for exile clearly knowing that she may never see her again. Janet Dibley’s performance is masterful in its constraint and her daughter Faith is equally well played by Rosie Holden. Once again Paula Wilcox proves that she is an actor of consummate skill as Lil, the linking thread to the story , and Paul Lancaster plays all the male roles, including the dark presence of The Ratcatcher, without making light of any.
A moving and disturbing work in a stunning production that proves the power of great theatre.

Theatre Royal Brighton, 19 November 2013
Rating:
Andrew Kay