| By
Sarah MacDonald
In
1939, Eva, a young Jewish girl from Hamburg, leaves her family and
makes the journey to England to escape Nazi persecution. She is
sent with the promise that when it is safe, she will be reunited
with her family. Helen Pritchard as young Eva gives a touching performance
as the bewildered child who arrives in England and slowly comes
to terms with the possibility of never seeing her family again.
Adult
Eva turns her back on her German-Jewish past, changes her name and
religion and makes her home in England. Years later, her daughter
Faith finds a box of Eva's things and demands to know the truth
about her family history. When Eva tears up her old letters and
photos, Faith is horrified that she can so quickly discard these
last remaining pieces of her past.
In
the intimate Burton Taylor theatre, Kindertransport is played out
on each side of the stage, young Eva on one side and adult Eva (Helen
Winston) on the other. Eva's adoptive mother Lil (Morag Taylor)
moves between the past and the present linking the two time frames
together very effectively.
Kindertransport
is a moving and thought-provoking account of the Holocaust through
the eyes of a child and the woman she becomes. The play is inspired
by the journeys made by 10,000 Jewish children in the months leading
up to WW2. Most never saw their families again. The themes of denial,
belonging and displacement have much resonance in certain parts
of the world today.
The
well-acted Oxford University production held the audience entranced
and there was a lot of animated discussion in the interval. It was
an enjoyable evening's entertainment for the bargain price of 拢5
(拢4 concessions). Well worth seeing.
|
