Little Angel Studios – until 3 September 2023 then touring (dates here)
Reviewer Alec Legge
5*****
Arrived at Little Angel Studios which is situated within a Community Centre in the middle of a housing estate. Waited in the Centres garden area till the appointed time when we were led upstairs to the small immersive area where the production takes place. There were only about 24 seats for the audience which consisted of mostly adults with a few children.
The wall facing the audience consisted of a cinematic shadow screen with a hatch either side. To the left the wall was covered with a map of Europe with a railway line running from what was then Czechoslovakia, now the Czech Republic and Slovakia, through Germany and onto England and eventually ending in Margate. To the right was another large, screened, hatch. At the rear corner there was a hatch in the ceiling.
The show is based on the situation in Czechoslovakia when the Germans under Hitler invaded the country and began the systematic persecution and elimination of the Czech-Jewish population,
.An Englishman, Sir Nicholas Winton organised several trains to save Jewish children from the Nazis and transport them to England and safety.
The story is based on one child, Babi who is shown as an old lady in the present day, who makes a pilgrimage with her grandson back to her childhood home in the then Czechoslovakia and by means of flashbacks her story of her escape on the kinder transports is told, A special emphasis is placed on the kindness of some strangers she met along the way and of a Mrs Walker who took her in when she arrived in Margate.
It is a very harrowing story brought to life by the exceptional skill and talent of the puppeteers with them also involving the audience. The toing and froing skilfully using the various hatches enhanced the performance giving the feeling that the audience were part of the action.
The play is aimed at an audience aged 9 – 18 and is perfectly suited for that age group.
I would hope that it sheds light on this aspect of the Holocaust and that it helps to educate our present day children as to the horrors which took place before and during the WW2. I think that it will also inform them of what makes a refugee so that they become aware of why there are present day refugees.
A must see play for that age group.