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by Diane Samuels. Directed by Christopher Newton

Harold Green Jewish Theatre Company, Al Green Theatre, Miles Nadal JCC, Toronto

November 6-23, 2008

Prompted by the horror of “Kristallnacht” in 1938, the British government organized a rescue movement called “Kindertransport” in which the UK took in nearly 10,000 unaccompanied, primarily Jewish, children from Nazi Germany to protect them until they could return home.  The outbreak of World War II nine months later meant that very few of the “Kinder” ever saw their home or families again.  British author Diane Samuels’ 1993 play, based on first-hand accounts, details the dilemmas faced by parents and children in 1939 when the “Kindertransport” began to its effects as late as the 1980s when the fully British children of the “Kinder” begin to discover their parents’ secret past.

Samuels’ intricate play is composed of parallels scenes between mothers and daughters in the 1930s, the 1940s and 1980s.  We meet Helga (Nancy Beatty), who tries to convince her daughter Eva (Jennifer Dzialoszynski) that her parting for England will keep her safe till Helga can join her.  In the 1980s, Eva’s older Anglicized self “Evelyn” (Corinne Koslo) is helping her daughter Faith (Jenny Young) pack up her things to move out.  In between we follow how Eva gradually accustoms herself to life with her foster mother Lil (Patricia Hamilton) to the point where Eva loses all hope of ever seeing Helga again and accepts Lil as her real mother.  Under Christopher Newton’s incisive direction the constant changes of time and place are absolutely clear.  This is aided immensely by concomitant changes in Kevin Lamotte’s lighting and Tyler Devine’s masterful use of video backgrounds.  

The entire cast gives deeply committed performances but newcomer Dzialoszynski must be singled out for her amazing performance detailing Eva/Evelyn’s growth from child to teenager, from German Jew to Anglicized Christian, signalled by her carefully evolving use of accents from German to regional English to a fully London accent.  We will have to get used to her name for she is certainly an actor with an exciting future.   

Samuels’ play is an intimate piece dealing in repressed emotions that would fare better in a smaller venue.  Newton’s pace is slow and deliberate and for some time we fear the play will end in a clichéd reconciliation.  Only by the end do we realize that Newton has painstakingly built up the factors that lead to the unimaginable decision Eva/Evelyn makes that has so paralyzed her life she has hidden from everyone.  Unlike so many plays based on social issues, Kindertransport does not end in a tidy moral.  Rather it concludes with a paradox both particular to the plight of Jews in World War II and universal in its question of what contributes more to identity, nature or nurture.

©Christopher Hoile

Note: A version of this review appeared in Eye Weekly 2008-11-10.

Photo: Jennifer Dzialoszynski. ©Michael Watier.