Cast Announced for THE STRANGE AFFAIR OF HERSCHAL GRYNSZPAN at The Other Palace Studio

Initial casting has been announced for the new LGBQT+ musical "The Strange Affair of Herschel Grynszpan". Based on true events but with imagined relationships. What might have been. In a staged workshop presentation with original music, evocative music from the Weimar era and video projections, at The Other Palace Studio on 29th and 30th March 2023 at 8pm.

PARIS. 1938.

Herschel Grynszpan, at just seventeen, has arrived in Hanover, Germany, having left his persecuted family. He is frightened, lonely and confused. He is different. Neuro-divergent and queer. He is Jewish refugee in a world that feels increasingly antagonistic to his people. He feels that everyone he loves has betrayed him. His beloved cabaret is under threat from the fascists. And then he falls in love with the enemy. When he learns of the fate of his family in Poland, he feels that he can't take any more. He walks into the German embassy to confront the ambassador. But there is a terrible misunderstanding.

A gun. A diplomat. The boy shoots. And hell breaks loose.

When propaganda minister, Joseph Goebbels, learns of these events he is determined to stage the affair as a show trial with Herschel Grynszpan as the scapegoat. But Herschel does not want to be the boy who started the war. So. What can he do?

He can confess and tell his story. The only way he knows how.

The cast includes (in alphabetical order by first name):

AONGHAS EWEN, AVITAL KAGAN, Jack Chambers, Laurie Denman, Madeleine MacMahon, PHILIPPA HOGG, SOPHIE JUGÉ, TRISTAN PEGG with an appearance by cabaret performer CAMIRA OBSCURA

The book is written by Linnie Reedman, with original music and lyrics by ARNOUD BREITBARTH.

Musical Director - Tamara Saringer
Lighting Design - Alistair Lindsay
Sound and Video Design - Joe Evans

"The Strange Affair of Herschel Grynszpan" is a radical new musical workshop, based on the true story of a teenage assassin.

It is 1938. A young Jewish refugee, Herschel Grynszpan, walks into the German embassy in Paris and shoots a German diplomat. He is arrested and spends the next four years in prison. When the Nazis march into Paris, they capture Herschel and send him to a camp in Berlin. Herschel has a choice: to be paraded in front of the world's press as a celebrity scapegoat; or to confess the truth - and to lift the lid on, not just his own sexuality, but the scandal that has infiltrated the Third Reich!

Herschel has an important story to tell. So far, he has only known prison and cabaret bars. And one love affair... with the enemy. Can he tell his story? Could this be the show-trial of his dreams? Or will the Third Reich try to bury the true facts to avoid a scandal at all costs?

Herschel, a Jewish teenager, went from refugee to assassin to puppet of Nazi propaganda. By the age of seventeen he was perhaps the most famous Jew in the world. The morning of November 7, 1938, Grynszpan bought a gun and went to the German embassy in Paris. He wanted to make a point the world couldn't ignore: a statement about the treatment of Jews at the hands of the Nazis. The assassination was used by Joseph Goebbels - minister of Propaganda - as justification for the violent riots of Kristallnacht. Did the young Herschel manage to thwart the Nazis' plan? Was it, after all, a desperate crime of passion? It is alleged that Herschel had a gay relationship with his victim. Why did he vanish without trace? Without a trial? And is it time for his story to be brought into the spotlight again?

Told, in cabaret style and peopled with real-life characters. Czech film star, Lida Baarova, Evelyn and her Magic Violin, celebrity journalist Dorothy Thompson confront the villain of the piece - Josef Goebbels. And who is the MC in Herschel's dreams?

The show features exciting, original music by British-Dutch composer, Arnoud Breitbarth, and songs from the Weimar period. Conceived by Linnie Reedman, it is being presented as a workshop performance in the studio of The Other Palace, following a successful showcase at Above the Stag. The production is the result of Reedman's extensive research into true facts, which she mixes with a fictionalised account of what may have happened. The explosive themes still resonate today.

Linnie Reedman comments: "I came across this story while researching another project set in a similar era - and it was an irresistible tale that I felt just has to be told. And, for me, it is a gift to be able to set it within the cabaret bars of the Weimar period. Working with a composer who has a personal - albeit historical - connection to one of the characters adds a real poignancy"

It is a story that must be told.

"If prison is to be my death... then cabaret must be my life"

Title The Strange Affair of Herschel Grynszpan
Dates Wednesday 29th and Thursday 30th March 2023
Time 8:00pm
Tickets £16

https://theotherpalace.co.uk/the-strange-affair-of-herschel-grynszpan/

Running Time 120 minutes (including interval)

Age Restrictions 12+

Please note This production contains references to the Holocaust, references to antisemitism, references to Naziism, adult language, cross dressing, violent language, images of "Kristalnacht" (persecution of the Jews), scenes depicting homosexuality, gunshots and shooting.

Location The Other Palace Studio, 12 Palace St, London SW1E 5BJ

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/linnie.reedman
Instagram @reedmanlinnie
Twitter @LinnieReedman

 

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