After going for a run this morning (O.O) I know! First time in yonks! Margaret and I went out for lunch in Chatswood at a legit Shanghai restaurant for some realy dumplings! I've never had dumplings before- at least, not that I remember-- and we ordered 3 dishes + jasmine tea! Jasmine tea was very lovely, we ordered some fried chicken with chili sauce which was delicious, some green beans with shrimp and something else-or-rather which was also quite yummy and the best of all was some pork and coriander dumplings. They were absolutely divine. Yum yum.
This evening I went to a play with Margaret called Kindertransport. Directed by Margaret's lovely friend Caroline (Carole Moore). It was absolutely fantastic! Absolutely incredible. Pretty much, this nosey, selfish bitch of a daughter (called Faith) comes up to the attic and starts nosing around and finds this old suitcase with letters, documents and a German edition of the Pied Piper, all belonging to a girl called Eva. A Jewish girl sent to Manchester, England to escape Nazi Germany. She was 9 years old when she was sent to England. Faith questions her grandmother about it and gets all upset when she tells her to put it away and to stop it, and keeps right on nosing into this painful affair and discovers that this little girl that was sent to live with them in refuge from Germany is her own mother Evelyn. Faith gets absolutely upset and starts yelling at everyone how this is so unfair that she doesn't know this part of her heritage and why did everyone lie to her about everything and how she hates them. During this, you get scenes on the other side of the attic which doubles as a train station very convincingly, which is Evelyn's life starting when she was 9 and sent to England, and her life in England. It is absolutely fantastically done. So Faith is pushing and pushing Evelyn to remember everything- bringing up painful memories that Evelyn has put in the back of her mind to protect herself- and Faith (having no empathy for her mother what-so-ever) brings those things forward on a very selfish basis. Everything for this Faith character was all about me me me. (From the moment this character stepped on stage, I wanted to slap her, and especially by the end I definitely had a strong dislike for the character. The actor wasn't great either.) So Evelyn's character as a young child goes through all this painful hustle and bustle of life during the war, and then when Evelyn turns 17, her mother turns up having survived Auschwitz. Her mother wants Eva to come to New York with her where they can start a new life, but Evelyn having gotten settled in England doesn't want to leave, she doesn't remember this hollow-eyed, gaunt looking woman who she used to call mother. Evelyn does not pass this on to her british mother- that her real mother showed up until much later when she's telling her life story to pushy, selfish Faith.
In the end, it was a very, very well-done play. The set was amazing- spectacular. Lighting was superb as was the sound! Definitely one I would reccommend. I'll write a little bit of the director's notes because it is quite interesting:
Kindertransport was when 10,000 Jewish and other children went from Europe to England on the brink of World War 2, and was brought on by Kristallnacht (Night of broken Glass) on November 9 1938. The British governement allowed the children to come to England, and the first of the Kindertransport arrived on December 2 1938. At least 2 transports were made each week, and the children were placed in private homes and institutions where they were cared for. After the war, many chose to stay, some reunited with family members but most lost their entire families. As the director mentions there is a commemorative statue at Liverpool Station in London. This play deals with the emotional and spiritual dislocation of families after World War 2.
This play is one of the best I have ever seen.
No comments:
Post a Comment