KINDERTRANSPORT, NEW THEATRE, CARDIFF

Writer: Diane Samuels

Director: Andrew Hall

Composer: Matthew Bugg

Reviewer: Barbara Michaels

It is almost impossible to watch a performance of this play without feeling emotional involvement.  For those who do not know, Kindertransport was the name given to the operation which lifted Jewish children, and others whose ethnic  origins made them targets for persecution, out of Nazi Germany at the start of the Second World War.   On their own – the Germans would not allow a parent to accompany their child – and frightened, these children, some as young as five years old, travelled by boat and train to safety in the UK.

     This year marks the 75^th anniversary of the Kindertransport, so it is fitting that Diane Samuels’ emotive and stirring play, first performed in London in 1993,  should be staged again at this time.  Samuels, however, is adamant that it is not solely about the children, many of whom never saw their parents again, but to use the historical context of the Kindertransport to explore the intricacies of the mother-daughter relationship.  In doing so, her focus was “To probe the inner life where memory is shaped by trauma..to gain insight into how a damaged psyche can survive and possibly recover..” Samuels shows a multi-faceted relationship, additionally confronting  the problems which both children and mothers faced in those rare instances  where they were reunited with their birth mothers after the war.

    For director Andrew Hall, directing a play in which “the raw power of the emotional revelations that are unleashed on the audience is such a challenging, engaging  and intoxicating mix” is an experience he would not have missed.  Hall succeeds brilliantly in directing a cast whose dedication to the task of conveying the message of this piece – that “the gates of this country must never be closed to asylum seekers” – shines through their performance.

     Gabrielle Dempsey, who is a recent graduate of Central Drama School, is cast in the pivotal role of Eva – the 9-year-old German Jewish girl put on the train to England by her desperate mother.  Conveying the bewilderment of a child who cannot understand why her loving parent should send her away, but tries valiantly to convince herself,  is no easy task, but Dempsey proves herself able to cope with this.  This is not, however, completely the case with her grasp of speaking in German, or in heavily accented English, despite having had training from the NT’s Richard Ryder as her dialect coach.   Also, Dempsey tends to speak too fast at times, possibly to empathise with the character but needs to slow down nevertheless.

     In the role of Lil, the north country Englishwoman who takes Eva in when she arrives in England, Paula Wilcox once again proves what a fine and versatile actress she is.  Lil’s north country practicality and stoic acceptance of the situation grow into a love equal to that of a mother – one of the core themes and leading to the denouement of this heart-rending play.

      As Evelyn, Janet Dibley gives the controlled performance that  the role demands in the earlier scenes, coming fully into her own in the powerful second act as the secret she has been hiding all her life is exposed.   Emma Deegan’s Helga – Eva’s German mother – gives a heart-rending and sympathetic portrayal of the suffering endured as a mother’s world disintegrates around her..

     In order to fully appreciate the nuances of this production, it is advisable to read the comprehensive programme notes with actual photographs of some of the children rescued from Nazi-dominated Germany and Austria.

     As Hall says: “Diane Samuels’ great achievement ..is to have made a monumental crime deeply personal and thereby enabled us to feel a true and affecting empathy with those who suffered its consequences.”

 
Runs until Saturday, November 16.

Returns to Wales March 17, 2014, at Theatr Clwyd, Mold

Barbara Michaels

barbara.michaels@btopenworld.com