another excellent play by Hannah Moscovitch. Peter Hutt and Kelli Fox were the only names we knew, since all the other actors were very young, playing the children in the orphanage.
the play is based on a true story, of children protected for a while in Warsaw by Janusz Korczak. Peter Hutt , who often plays Peter Hutt, was wonderful in this role. At times funny, principled and pragmatic, he rescues the children, feeds them and tries to keep them alive in the ghetto.
Mark Correia, who plays Israel, was particularly noteworthy - he managed to convey so much with every shrug of his shoulders.
It is a depressing play, but well worth seeing. the staging was so effective at the end when the children and the adults all march off tomdeath.
Embarrassingly, I find i roll my eyes and sigh at the thought of another holocaust play.
ReplyDeleteWhen I first saw and read historical information about it I was horrified and disgusted, and the fictional interpretations put faces on victims and made it that much more terrible.
But, eventually, it all became too much and it has no impact any more. The fiction I remember best about the Warsaw Ghetto was Kanal by Wajda.
Anyway, I agree with Cathy it was the best I have seen from Peter Hutt. I hope he gets used this well in future. Kelli Fox and the rest of the cast were also right on the money too. So, I enjoyed it, despite my grumbles.