Harrowing, but worth it
THE stage for Kindertransport is bare save for a mountain of bric-abrac, cases, trunks and what not. This is an attic, the setting for most of the play. But, intentionally or not, that mountain also reminds one of those pictures you’ve seen, taken at Auschwitz, of the abandoned possessions of people who perished there.
Concerned as it is with the evacuation of Jewish children from Germany to Britain just before the outbreak of war, Kindertransport is harrowing yet rewarding. And this is especially so because it centres on a small family of believable people.
The action shifts back and forth between the 1930s and 40s, when we see Eva as a child refugee then adolescent, and the 80s, when she’s an adult, Evelyn, with a daughter of her own.
Your heart is breaking in the first minutes. Then Kindertransport goes on to show the bewilderment of loss of parents, of children, of home and cultural identity, and the life-long psychological damage associated with all these.
The daughter says to Evelyn: “You can’t even go on a train without hyperventilating!”
A terrifying comparison is made between the Holocaust and a harsh version of the Pied Piper legend. The Piper himself is The Rat Catcher, the stuff of nightmare; confused in the mind of a child with Hitler.
Eva is well played by Jenny Walser, who never overdoes the nine-year-old and is subtle about the transformation to selfassertive 17. The adult Evelyn is played, in the stand-out performance, by Cate Hamer. Her step-mother, the Manchester woman who takes Eva in, is a convincing Denise Black.
Rebecca D’souza gives a moving performance as Eva’s birth mother. Helga,
Another fine production from Fiona Buffini.
■■ Kindertransport is at Nottingham Playhouse until Saturday, October 20. Tickets from 0115 941 9419 or nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk.