Reviews

Shared Experience's take on Diane Samuels's story has two generations of Eva's family sharing the stage. It opens with a glimpse of nine-year-old Eva talking to her mother, Helga, about the trivial subject of sewing but soon moves on to the young Jew hearing of her impending train ride to England.

From 1938 to the outbreak of the Second World War around 10,000, mostly Jewish, children from Germany, Austria, Poland and Czechoslovakia were sent away from their parents to Britain. This became known as Kindertransport.

Can the strong family bond remain?

As Eva tries to cope with the imminent separation from her parents, another mother and daughter appear on stage. References to props such as mugs (rather than cups and saucers) and a digital camera, along with the clothes worn by the daughter, Faith, show that this family are living in a modern day world - where freedom is often taken for granted.

The setting throughout the play is a single room filled with luggage and a couple of wardrobes. In the modern day section of Kindertransport, the room is used to represent an upstairs attic, where the English middle class, and middle aged, mother's possessions are safely locked away and forgotten about.

Eva's traumatic arrival in England is softened by the welcoming presence of her new foster mother Lil Miller, who helps Eva settle in to life in Manchester. Cultural differences such as the food ("I'm glad to be eating the bread of freedom, even if it does taste like sponge buttered with greasy salt") and the inability to speak English are eventually overcome and Eva becomes accustomed to her new environment.

However, the pining for her parents continues and Eva actively pursues all avenues which could result in her real family joining her in England.

But Kindertransport asks how long these feelings, so passionate during Eva's childhood, can last and whether it's easier for the now teenage girl to give up on her past.

Her destiny is eventually revealed courtesy of the modern day section of the play, as Faith's discovery of old letters in the attic helps tell the story of what happened to Eva and Helga after the war.

Eva keeps in contact with her mother

The play skillfully and smoothly switches between the two sides of the story, with none of the power of the story being lost in transition. At first I found it hard to believe Matti Houghton's portrayal of nine-year-old Eva, such is the difference in the character's and actor's ages, but her performance was executed with such passion that I was won over by the time Eva boarded the train for England.

Kindertransport offers an intimate glimpse into one family's struggle during the war. Its success is in leaving the wider issue to one side and allowing the featured characters space to breathe.

It was encouraging to see the New Wolsey close to capacity, and made up of an audience of all ages. It's no doubt a sign that Kindertransport's blend of the new and old means it can successfully relate to both those affected by war, and a younger generation who hopefully will never have to see such horrors.

Kindertransport is at the New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich, on 20 and 21 March 2007.