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Costing sins of the father
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas
Children’s Touring Partnership
Belgrade Theatre and on Tour
****
THIS moving ‘fable’ concerns what Winston Churchill described as the
‘worst crime in human history’, the holocaust; delivered through the
eyes of Bruno (Jabez Cheeseman, Cameron Duncan, Finlay Wright-Stephens
in rotation), the nine-year-old son of a high-ranking Nazi officer (Phil
Cheadle) put in charge of a concentration camp in Poland. John Boyne’s best-selling book
has been adapted by Angus Jackson and in making the story so personal
and immediate, the author has added immensely to the understanding of
the impact of the calculated slaughter of six million men, women and
children. Bruno, his mother (Marianne
Oldham), sister Gretel (Eleanor Thorne) and their maid Maria (Rosie
Wyatt) are visited by a man Bruno calls ‘The Fury’ – the Fuhre, Adolf
Hitler (Robert Styles) and Eva Braun (Eva Bell) and the family travel to
Poland. It is an unhappy experience for all of them, and both Mother and
Maria more than once caution the inquisitive Bruno that life just isn’t
fair. Through the barbed wire fence,
Bruno meets Shmuel (Colby Mulgrew, Tom Hibberd and Samuel Peterson in
rotation), born on exactly the same day in April 1934 but living a very
different life since the enforced deportation of the Jews from Krakow. Bruno’s father finally
understands that his family is being polluted by the horrors they are
witnessing and arranges for them to return to Berlin. But Bruno gets
headlice and his head is shaved just like his friend Shmuel. The
friends’ ‘final adventure’ is for Bruno to squeeze through the fence,
into his own set of striped pyjamas and become indistinguishable from
all the other children in the camp – and there the story ends – for
Shmuel, for Bruno and for us. If I have a criticism, it is
that it took rather too long to get going. Also, I found the voices of
the young actors hard to follow – but, checking with my neighbour, it
was definitely me and my old ears. I loved the set; simple and effective
with a huge, turning platform that took up most of the stage area. This
was a valuable experience in all ways. Various times during the day to
20-06-15 Jane Howard
16-06-15
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