DALLAS It's tricky to write a play that time-jumps as frequently as Diane Samuels' Kindertransport. It's even trickier for directors, actors and designers. But with Echo Theatre's production of the play, it's an all-around success.
The title refers to a rescue mission in which Jewish children were shipped by train from Nazi Germany to Britain by their parents, many of whom were later killed in the Holocaust.
With that tragedy always in the background, Kindertransport is actually a beautifully told story about identity. Evelyn (Elly Lindsay) has assimilated to British society, and has never told her adult daughter Faith (Danna Tanner) that she is Jewish and how she came to England, via the kindertransport. Faith stumbles across old papers and photos, however, and confronts her mother about it.
The action happens in Eveyln's attic, but that space also doubles as various locales in Evelyn's memory, as her younger self, Eva (Marilyn Setu) is the girl being sent away by her mother Helga (Emily Gray). Carolyn Wickwire plays Lil, the woman who takes in Eva in England.
The flashbacks are not completely separate from the present. Samuels has the action crossing over, so that the past is very much a part of the play's drive.
Setu moves from age nine to 16 convincingly, fleshing out all the character's quirks and truths. Watching her change from a scared child to a confident young adult is a pleasure.
The rest of the cast is equally riveting, with especially fine work from Wickwire as the nurturing, caring matriarch.
Looks like director Niki Flacks and the designers have done homework. Regan Adair's costumes; Rhonda Gorman's set, which evokes both periods; and Russell Dyer's lighting are all first-rate.
The play itself is a good read, but when done this well, Kindertransport is riveting theater.
Through Nov. 22; 8 p.m. Wednesdays-Saturdays and 2 p.m. Nov 15; at the Bath House Cultural Center, 521 E. Lawther Drive, Dallas (214) 904-0500
Echo Theatre will have a free screening of the documentary film Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport at the Bath House Cultural Center, 7:30 p.m. Nov. 18.
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Diane Samuels was born in 1960 in Liverpool, England. She studied history at the University of Cambridge, then continued her training as a drama teacher at Goldsmith’s College in London. This led to teaching for five years in secondary schools in the city of London.
Since leaving the teaching profession, Diane Samuels has devoted herself to writing. Among her plays for adult audiences are Watch Out for Mister Stork (1992) and Chalk Circle (1991). She has also written a number of children’s theatre plays, including Forever and Ever (1998), One Hundred Million Footsteps (1997), How to Beat a Giant (1995), The Bonekeeper (1992) which was short-listed for the W.H. Smith Award for plays for children, Frankie’s Monster (1991) which is also known as The Monster Garden, and The Life and Death of Bessie Smith (1989). She has also penned a number of radio plays for the BBC, some adapted from her stage plays, aimed at both adult and children’s audiences. They include Doctor Y (1997), Hardly Cinderella (1997), Swine (1996), Watch Out for Mister Stork (1994), Two Together (1993), and Frankie’s Monster (1992). Diane Samuels resides in London with her husband, writer and journalist Simon Garfield, and their two sons.
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About the Play
Kindertransport was first performed by the Soho Theatre Company at the Cockpit Theatre in London on April 13, 1993. It premiered in the United States at the Manhattan Theatre Club in New York on April 26, 1994. Both productions were directed by Abigail Morris. The author has described Kindertransport as “a play with universal themes set in a very specific context.” Indeed, according to its many favorable reviews, the play succeeds on both specific and universal levels.
The play has been honored a number of times. It won the 1992 Verity Bargate Award, and the 1993 Meyer Whitworth Award.
Kindertransport has been performed throughout Great Britain, the United States, Canada, Sweden, Austria, Germany, and South Africa (where the play’s themes of memory and repression were felt to echo apartheid experiences).
The playwright adapted the script into a radio play in 1995 and is currently working on a screenplay of the work.
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At the National Theatre Wiesbaden
The play
Diane Samuels :Multimedia Work
D.S. at Leo Baeck Institute
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