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Kindertransport

The Barn Theatre, Southwick Community Centre

June 12, 13, 14 & 15, 2002

Kindertransport

by Diane Samuels

Directed by
Bob Ryder


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1890206_kindertransport_playbill

“Compelling, moving, uncompromising”
– Shoreham Herald –

Cast

Candice Gregory – Eva

Alexis Hills – Helga [her Mother]

Patricia Lyne – Evelyn [Eva’s older self]

Lyn Fernee – Faith [her Daughter]

Elizabeth Wood – Lil

Tony Brownings – The Ratcatcher [and other characters]

 

Production Crew

Production ManagerJohn Garland

LightingMike Medway

SoundSimon Snelling

TechnicianChris Grey

Assistant SMOlive Smith

PropertiesMargaret Davy

PropertiesSue Whittaker

CostumeCherry Briggs

CostumeJudith Berrill

Workshop TeamDavid Comber

Workshop TeamBrian Box

Workshop TeamDavid Collis

Workshop TeamMike Davy

Workshop TeamMarc Lewis

Language CoachDavid Creedon

Design workJudith Berrill

PublicityRosemary Bouchy

PublicityRosemary Brown

Front of HouseAdrian Kenward

Box OfficeMargaret Murrell

 

Programme Note #1: Kindertransport

BR wrote: “The obscenity pf the Nazi regime was something which British opinion was slow to address in the 1930s. Neville Chamberlain’s return from Munich in September 1938, waving his worthless piece of paper, was greeted with almost hysterical relief. But within months the reality began to hit home. In November the Nazis destroyed thousand of Jewish businesses and institutions – assaulting, imprisoning and killing many thousands of Jewish people. It was in response to this outrage, known as ‘Kristallnacht’, that the Movement for the Care of Children from Germany was formed.

From December 1938, almost up to the outbreak of war the following September, nearly 10,000 unaccompanied children were able to escape on special trains out of Germany – the ‘Kindertransport’.

Most of these children were settled in England, in a clear demonstration of how popular compassion had moved ahead of political leadership. The effect of Kristallnacht and then the images of the frightened Kinder, arriving on boats from Holland, was to inflame public anger in Britain against the aggression and barbarity of Nazi Germany.

The absorption of these young Jewish refugees, and of course the even greater number of families who had been able to escape here from the persecution in central and eastern Europe from the mid-1930s, was enormously enriching to British culture and society. What is less well understood is the trauma of displacement and loss suffered by the refugees themselves. Much work has been done in more recent years to research and record their experiences.

Diane Samuels’ play is a strong but sensitive tribute to that historical record.”