Darlinghurst Theatre Co Presents KINDERTRANSPORT

Just before the outbreak of the Second World War, Britain took in over 10,000 Jewish refugee children from Europe. The rescue effort was known as Kindertransport. Separated from their families and fostered out to British homes, most of the children never saw their parents again.

Diane Samuels' extraordinary play is about this emergency immigration and its e ect over time on generations. Based on real accounts with a distinctly female perspective, centring on the experience of one child, Eva, Kindertransport tells a powerful story of survival.

It begins in 1938 when 9 year old Eva is helped to pack her case by her mother Helga in Hamburg. Nearly fty years later, Faith discovers a box of papers and photos in her mother Evelyn's attic and wants to know the truth about who this Eva actually is.

Diane Samuels' play traces the way memory, remembered and forgotten, deeply a ects the present. As such, Kindertransport is a story that transcends time and remains particularly relevant today. Aside from its political and historical context, at its core, the play is centred on a universal human experience, the inevitable separation between a child and parent.

Director Sandra Eldridge has undergone extensive research, and with guidance from the Sydney Jewish Museum, our cast have had the opportunity to meet with Kinder survivors.

With lauded performances on London's West End and O -Broadway, Darlinghurst Theatre Company is proud to produce the Australian professional premiere of Kindertransport.

Diane Samuels was born and raised in Liverpool. She currently lives in London where she has been writing since the early 1990s. She enjoys collaborating across art forms, particularly with composers/musicians, and draws on relationships with scientists, historians, psychotherapists, medical practitioners, and healers to expand the scope of her practice and work. She also works as a teacher/facilitator of creative writing to all ages. Kindertransport won the Verity Bargate and Meyer-Whitworth Awards, was rst produced by Soho Theatre Company in 1993, has been translated into many languages, and performed in the West End, O - Broadway and all over the world. Her other plays include The True-Life Fiction of Mata Hari (Palace Theatre, Watford, 2002); Cinderella's Daughter (Trestle Theatre tour, 2005); 3 Sisters On Hope Street, with Tracy- Ann Oberman (Liverpool Everyman and Hampstead Theatre, London, 2008); and Poppy + George (Palace Theatre, Watford, 2016). Diane has also written widely for BBC Radio. Her plays, and her book Diane Samuels' Kindertransport, are published by Nick Hern Books.

Sandra is a WAAPA acting graduate and has a Master of Arts (Practice) for directing CSU. She is a founder of Monkey Baa Theater, adapting over 17 works and directing Goodbye Jamie Boyd, The Prospector's,

I am Jack and The Helpmann Award winning Hitler's Daughter (2007) and Thursday's Child (2009). Sandra has also directed The Mill on the Floss and The Grapes of Wrath at WAAPA, Monkey Tales for The Chinese Gardens of Friendship Sydney, Nautillus, Voyage to the Deep for Australian National Maritime Museum. As an actor Sandra has worked for numerous theatre companies throughout Australia including: Darlinghurst Theatre Company, Sport for Jove, Pascal Productions, Marion Street, Gri n, Railway Street, WA Theatre Company and Deckchair. Film & TV credits include: Special Ops, All Saints, White Collar Blue, Children's Hospital, Spellbinder, Backburner, A Fortunate Life, Sisterly Love, The Distance Between, Stay Awake, I'm Not Someone Else and Lady and a Robot. In October she will be touring to the USA for Monkey Baa, performing in her award winning play The Unknown Soldier.

Tickets and Information

www.darlinghursttheatre.com / 02 8356 9987

To post a comment, you must register and login.