Echo Theater's production of Kindertransport by Diane Samuels opened at the Bath House Cultural Center November 6, 2003. Six talented actors did a fine job with a convoluted, obtuse script that leaves much to be desired.
Kindertransport was a brief operation which transpired from the end of 1938 through the third quarter of 1939 in which Jewish children were evacuated to England. By all accounts, approximately 10,000 children were involved. They were taken in by English families, mostly total strangers, and many of the children never saw their parents again. This play focuses on the life of one such child, Eva Schlesinger. It is set in the present in the attic of Evelyn's (Elly Lindsay) home in an outer London suburb. Evelyn was formerly Eva Schlesinger, who is now a proper Christian Englishwoman, having been baptized at the age of 18 into the faith of her adoptive mother, Lil Miller (Carolyn Wickwire.) She is helping her 17 year-old daughter, Faith (Dana Tanner), pack some family heirlooms for Faith's move to her first apartment. While Evelyn is not present, Faith goes through an old trunk in the attic and finds a book from Evelyn's childhood, written in German, plus some old photographs and asks her grandmother about them. Grandmum Lil becomes upset and refuses to discuss these contents with Faith. Evelyn had never told Faith about her background.
The revelation of these items sets off a chain of reactions, as she has heated discussions with her mother who locks herself in the attic and refuses to talk to Faith. There ensues a series of flashbacks in which Evelyn relives her past as the nine year-old Eva (Marilyn Setu), as her mother, Helga (Emily Gray) prepares her to leave for England. During one of Evelyn's flashbacks she encounters a scary mythical figure, the Ratcatcher (William Paul Williams) from one of her childhood storybooks. She also encounters formidable figures from her journey to England in the form of an intimidating Nazi Border Official, the Station Guard, the English Organizer, and the Postman (all played by Williams.)
Kindertransport possesses a problematic script, as Samuels gives absolutely no exposition and jumps back and forth from present to past numerous times with actors moving in and out of two sections of the set, not only between spaces but also between time periods. A lot of confusion could have been avoided in these instances with the judicious use of lighting changes.
In a conversation the following day with director Niki Flacks, she said: "You finally realize what is happening is all in Evelyn's mind; these are the ghosts of her past. This is not a play for the unthinking. You have to do a lot of work." This logic may appeal to a director, but I question its appeal to an audience. It took me 15-minutes just to get the characters straight. While some theatergoers may enjoy spending nearly two hours trying to figure out what is happening, alas I am not one of them, and I felt totally detached from what was transpiring on the stage.
Rhonda Gorman's minimalist set worked well. Lighting designer Russell Dyer might have been more instructive and creative in his use of the time-honored theatrical device of the dimming of lights and rear screen projections to inform the audience of changes of time and place. A real turn-off was the three instances of on-stage smoking in the intimate space of the Bath House. Perhaps it was called for in the script, but Flacks could have directed the actors to pretend they were smoking; real smoke is very annoying in such a small theater.
