Dunstable play explores children's rescue from the Nazis

The story of how thousands of vulnerable German children were transported to England before the Second World War is coming to Dunstable this month.
Dunstable Rep presents Kindertransport from November 18 to 26Dunstable Rep presents Kindertransport from November 18 to 26
Dunstable Rep presents Kindertransport from November 18 to 26

The play Kindertransport is set in the 1980s in the attic of a woman named Evelyn. It’s a very ordinary house of, on the surface, a very ordinary woman.

But the attic is the place where Evelyn has chosen to hide the painful memories of her past – which becomes clear as the play progresses.

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The Nazis’ rise to power in 1930s Germany led to a huge escalation of discrimination and violence against Jews. When a German diplomat was killed by a young Jew in Paris in November 1930, violent persecution resulted, which has since become known as Kristallnacht, the night of broken glass.

In response to this, the Movement for the Care of Children from Germany was formed and in just nine months, before the outbreak of the Second World War, almost 10,000 unaccompanied children were rescued on the Kindertransport trains and brought to England. Evelyn was one of those children.

The play is being staged by Dunstable Rep at the Little Theatre in High Street South from Friday, November 18, to Sunday, November 26. It will be directed by Chris Young, who is making his directorial debut.

Chris said: “The audience will come to see, through the eyes of a child, what the experience felt like. And on another level it should make us realise that these sort of events are happening still today. Has our society changed and become so much less compassionate than the 1930s?”

Call 01582 204021 to book and for more information.

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