The Play's the Thing

TeenE has been spending most of her time in rehearsals for the American School in London’s high school theatre production. This year they are putting on “And Then They Came For Me: Remembering the Life of Anne Frank”. She is among the “company”, meaning she has a background part. We have had to purchase “character shoes”, fortunately on sale at Capezio in Soho, and a beige leotard. More on that later…

The play was written with the support of the Anne Frank foundation. Two Holocaust survivors who knew Anne were interviewed for the production. These interviews were presented as part of the production, projected on a backdrop. One of the survivors now lives in St. John’s Wood, London, and was involved heavily in this production. Eva Geiringer Schloss came to talk to the cast, giving background information for the actors’ portrayals of the main characters. After each performance, she took questions from the audience. As the director noted, our children’s generation will be the last to hear witness from those who lived through the Holocaust.

I wasn’t sure what to expect, but knew that the production would be emotionally challenging. I was right. I had purchased tickets for two of the performances, but was only able to sit through one. It was an extremely powerful presentation of how the lives of innocents were subsumed and annihilated by the evil of hatred. The play made clear the escalation of injustice and the scale of the atrocities inflicted on the Jews, gypsies, mentally ill, homosexuals, on a very personal level. Anne Franks’ friends Eva, whom we met, and Ed both had their families broken apart and spent time at Auschwitz. Eva was taken on her fifteenth birthday. This was made especially poignant as many of the cast members were that age. After the liberation of the camps, Eva was reunited with her mother, and with Anne Frank’s father Otto, who later became her stepfather. Eva, now 80, has, through the vehicle of this play, encouraged us to speak out against those who hate.

The most challenging scene in the play for me to watch was when the cast members, after being taken to Auschwitz by cattlecar, were led behind a backlit screen and made to strip by the Nazis. Only their silhouetted shadows could be seen as they stripped down to their beige leotards; it gave a very real illusion, and I could certainly recognize TeenE’s shape in the center of the screen. Later these same screens had images of the burning chimneys of the crematorium and the associated sounds of the ovens. I wound up huddled in a little ball in my seat, as if closing off my energy field could possibly protect me from the grief and horror of what was being depicted on stage. There was a horrified hush among the capacity crowd, and sounds of sniffles and sobs began.

At the end of the play, the playwright somehow brought us to the present, with Eva and Ed being shown on the screens as they neared age 80, and we felt hopeful for humanity again. But the fact that Anne Frank herself never left Auschwitz alive, never married, never had children or grandchildren, was made very clear.

Several cast members and their families are also cared for by the good Dr. D., so we invited him to the production as our guest. I was glad to have the additional moral support on Opening Night. Hubster had a “conference” with the guys after work so was unable to attend until Saturday night. After having witnessed this powerfully moving production, the parents and community were all impressed at the high quality of the production; it was not at all like the student production we were expecting. Kudos to the theatre department at ASL, especially Mr. Buck Heron, for putting on this important and moving production.

If you wish to find out more about the US-based organization Teaching Tolerance, which fights hate crimes and publishes a Teaching Tolerance curriculum for schools, visit http://www.tolerance.org/
Through them, I was able to support the Holocaust Memorial Museum when it was being built, and to dedicate a plaque in honor of my father, who along with hundreds of others in the army, was on hand to witness the liberation of one of the concentration camps.

Blessings to those who help us remember, and whose witnessing is a light shining in the darkness. Blessings also to those, who through their artistic talents, bring the message to the world.