March 24 - April 15, 2000 As the Nazi Party rose to power in Germany in the 1930's, Jews were systematically deprived of all basic human rights. Their German citizenship was revoked. They were prohibited from activities as simple as driving, and from attending public entertainments. And in 1938, thousands of Jewish businesses and homes were destroyed in the maelstrom of Kristallnacht.
When the first 30,000 Jews were detained and placed in concentration camps, the Movement for the Care of Children from Germany was formed in England. The rescue operation known as "Kindertransport," would see nearly ten thousand unaccompanied Jewish children travel from Germany to England where they would settle into English families that wanted to help. Of course, most never saw their homeland or their parents again. It is estimated that some 2,500 Kinder eventually immigrated to North America.
Ms. Samuels sets most of her story in an attic storeroom of a suburban London home in 1979 with a few scenes set in Germany in 1939. Past and present are intertwined throughout the play, which has three sets of mothers and daughters. The play opens with Eva, a young German Jewish girl and her mother packing for the girl's escape to England.
Diane Samuels, an Englishwoman, interviewed a number of the Kinder as part of her research for the play. She writes: "They were all very open about their lives and feelings. Many of their actual experiences are woven into the fabric of the play. Although Eva/Evelyn and her life are fictional, most of what happens to her did happen to someone somewhere." She dedicates the play to the Jewish Kinder who caught the trains in 1938-39.
Director's Note: To learn more, visit the Kindertransport Association web site.
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Kindertransport
Almost
immediately, the action moves to 1979 where a young Englishwoman, Faith,
has decided to leave home, and her stiff reserved mother Evelyn and
grandmother are helping her pack. As the play shifts subtly between past
and present, we see the young Jewish girl grow up and assimilate into
British culture, and we see Faith discover family secrets, and then
confront her mother and grandmother.The plot explores such themes as
mother-daughter relationships, survivor guilt, and loss of identity.
A
very theatrical spark in the naturalistic drama is the playwright's
skillful use of a children's fairy tale character, "The Ratcatcher,"
which is a German variation of the Pied Piper. The mythical Ratcatcher
becomes various authority figures, such as a Nazi border official, a train
station guard, and an English postman.
