Kindertransport

The latest play from “Chorley Amateur Dramatic and Operatic Society” was an excellent production called “Kindertransport”, written by Diane Samuels and Directed by the talented David Reid. The play tells the thought-provoking, and at times disturbing, story of  a nine year old girl called Eva Schlesinger, played by Becky Chamberlain  who  gave a striking and touching performance, as Eva from the ages of nine to seventeen,  Eva is the daughter of Helga and Ernest Schlesinger, who is sent  to England from Germany, during the evacuation of Jewish children which took place before the declaration of war against Germany in 1939, this was in response to the violence against Jews in 1930’s Germany and Austria which came to a head when a German Diplomat  was killed in Paris by a Jewish student in November 1938, after which violence against the Jewish people escalated, and 30,000 people were sent to concentration camps, this was known as “Kristallnacht”. The children were taken in by English families. and most of them did not see their parents again as they died in the concentration camps. The action begins in Hamburg where Eva’s mother Helga, nicely played with the feeling of inevitable loss by Sam Quinn, is making Eva sew a button on her coat, so she will be able to do this for herself in the future. Eva is also reading a book about a rat-catcher who steals children from their parents, and this story helps to intensify Eva’s fear of what is going to happen to her. We then go forward in time to 1980s England, because as the author says, “the past and present surround each other” as we are taken backwards and forwards in time throughout the play. We see Evelyn played by Debbie Garrett, who captures the inflexibility and conflict of her character very well, helping her daughter Faith convincingly played by Katie Waller search the attic of their home for things she can take with her as she is leaving home, during the search Faith discovers papers and the book about the rat -catcher in German and is desperate to know their meaning and origin which causes an argument as Evelyn does not want to talk about them. We are then taken back to the story of Eva who is taken in by a kindly but rather inadequate lady called Lil from Manchester, who was sympathetically played with a caring attitude by Sue Hilton, Lil already has one child who is not seen in the play. At first Eva misses her parents and cannot wait for them to get their papers and join her in England, but unfortunately, they do not arrive. Gradually Eva and Lil’s relationship begins to grow stronger and Eva gradually begins to lose her Jewish identity, she is adopted by Lil and changes her name to Evelyn and becomes anglicised. There are very few male characters in this play apart from the imaginary appearances of the rat-catcher and four very small cameo roles of the various officials Eva meets along the way, they were all played very well with versatility by one actor Ryan Norse. Diction was very good and generally the story could be followed easily although on just a few occasions a little more projection would have been beneficial The pace of the play and the action was just right meaning the audience’s attention was held all through the performance.

Most of the play is set in the attic of the house and once again the stage crew and set builders came up with an atmospheric set with excellent props and technical input to set the scene, Costumes were just right for the periods covered and added that extra something to the performances.

This was an excellent thought provoking production, with lessons to be learned about man’s inhumanity to man and it also highlighted the terrible psychological scars that can be experienced by a person after suffering unimaginable traumatic events, they can include feelings of abandonment and survivor’s guilt as seen in this production. The play had a great deal of depth and was deeply moving at times, it was very well acted and was well cast as there were no weak links, the whole production was full of genuine emotion.

Congratulations to Director David Reid and Producer Jacqueline Green and everyone involved in bringing this excellent play to the stage.
 

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