Taken After Midnight

I still feel like I'm at a bit of a loose end, now that the conference is over. My bedroom is a stew of scripts, light cues, programmes and scraps of notes that I've taken from the few plenaries that I did manage to catch.

How am I going to organise all of the thoughts and questions that have come up, in light of listening to the brilliant academics and delegates? There's just too much to say. There are too many questions. I was naive to think that I could sum up the topics that were discussed in only a few blog posts. It's all pending, though, let me get my reading out of the way first.


Anyway, as a way to continue thinking about how the Holocaust is dramatised, I'm going to see the acclaimed play by Mark Hayhurst, Taken After Midnight starring Penelope Wilton at Theatre Royal Haymarket. I'm going with my aunt, Gill (I've previously blogged about her experience visiting Holocaust Memorials in Budapest).


The play, running for only 8 weeks, is a true story about a mother's heroic battle to save her son, an incarcerated Jewish lawyer, who took on the Nazis and put Hitler on the stand in 1930s Germany.

You can book tickets here. See you there?

Kindertransport - a play by Diane Samuels

At the start of February I'll going to watch an exciting new production, premièred at the Carriageworks Theatre in Leeds – Kindertransport by Diane Samuels. One of the actors, Alan Buttery, is a graduate of German at Leeds.

The play tells the story of a young Jewish girl, Eva, who travels from Germany to Manchester in the winter of 1938/9 as part of the ‘Kindertransport’ programme organised by the British Government to grant safe passage to Britain for Jewish children in Germany persecuted under the National Socialist regime. The focus of the play is on how the adult Eva (now called Evelyn) deals with her past and constructs a new identity for herself. For more information, please see the playwright’s website: http://www.dianesamuels.com/index.php/theatre/kinder-transport. 

I'm excited to attend the pre- and post- performance workshops that will discuss many of the key themes and issues within the play that will further my understanding and empathy towards survivors of the Holocaust.

It feels really relevant to attend the workshops, especially in light of the discussion after the final 'Falling to our knees' performance last Tuesday. The input from the cast felt vital when considering the measures to be taken to ensure that future generations can be informed of the Holocaust and learn about it in more accessible ways that just copying from a textbook or whiteboard.

So the conference is, like, over now....

Whoa. The past 4 days have been a whirlwind. Two GREAT performances by the Escape:cyt cast of 'Falling to our knees', one in the town hall and one that brought the whole conference to a dramatic end. 

This amazing experience has been a learning curve, and I feel very fortunate to have been a part of not only the production process, but also the conference. The conference was over two days in a variety of locations on the University of Leeds campus and two exhibitions that took place in the Parkinson Building.

It's not my first time attending a conference, but it was the first time I've ever sat on a panel answering questions from an audience. The cast were great - absolute naturals - answering questions with the sort of eloquent loquacity that you'd expect of somebody twice their age. Well done, everyone!

After the performance and Q&A session, there was a reception and social in which people were networking and circulating. It felt uplifting to talk to the professors and academics whom I admire, but to whom I didn't have to guts to ask questions in the plenaries. I just really like people, y'know? Despite the serious topic, I feel energised by the enthusiasm of the academics that I have met, and the passion they clearly have for their subjects. It inspires me, it drives  me, to want to dip my toe into the ocean that is the world of further academia.

I don't want to stop blogging. I don't want to stop developing my knowledge of the Holocaust. Maybe this blog will become a space in which I attempt to come up with at least half an original idea on the topic that hasn't already been said by somebody who actually-knows-what-they're-talking-about, y'know?

I want to thank everyone who has assisted me in the past couple of months. I appreciate that. 

(I have just deleted a whole paragraph listing names of people who have guided me in this process - 

but quite frankly ain't nobody got time for that - this isn't Wembley and I haven't written a book yet, soooooo)

PEACE.

Day 10 - Town Hall Rehearsal

Now that I don't have to fret about revising for exams and that my coursework is all done and dusted, I feel like I can fully concentrate on the performances on the 25th and 27th of January (cheeky plug there). You know that stab of guilt you get when you're doing something important, but you know that you should be doing about 5 other equally as important - and possibly life changing - activities? Yeah, THAT.

Last night there was a run-through of the show in Leeds Town Hall and it was not only a great opportunity to practise scenes and rehearse the visual images, but I also managed to catch 20 minutes of a discussion taking place in the exhibition room. The discussion was hosted by two students from the University of Leeds, Rachel and Yerri, and involved members of The Holocaust Survivors' Friendship Association and the Leeds Jewish Welfare Board, who shared moving, personal experiences. There were many ideas regarding the initiative to educate young people on the Holocaust but I will talk in depth about this discussion in a later post

With the first performance only days away, and with a few members of the cast missing the rehearsals due to extreme illness, it seems like both tension and pressure is running high within the group. It can be a daunting thing, the first dress rehearsal on the stage, and it requires organisation and focus from the cast. However, I do feel as though my preparation could have been more thoroughly organised - something that will be straightened out come Saturday's rehearsal at the Workshop Theatre on the Leeds University campus. 

Here are a few stills from the Rudi/Horst scene. Don't worry, nobody's pride was hurt during the making of the production.

Procrasti-making

Instead of revising the finer points of German grammar or ploughing away at coursework like any normal student in the dreaded run-up to exam season, I've been happily procrasti-making and typing up notes for the show to form THE BOOK/ dramaturgist's bible.

THE BOOK
By creating a folder (more like a few heavy bricks) of information on blocking, scripts, cast lists and stage directions, it means that the rehearsing process is easier and smoother when reminding the cast of their exact position for certain scenes, for example Scene 5 from Narrator 9's line.. ("Yes, you stand there and look over there")....and so on.

Up until now creating my own version of THE BOOK has been straightforward. Lighting, technology, music and costumes have already been negotiated by Simon and Anthony and but to be honest, I had put it on the back-burner in my own mind whilst focusing on rehearsals.

Last night, we were joined by Emma, who is designing set and costume for the show. As mentioned in other posts, the set will be composed of a circle of handheld lightbulbs which will illuminate the stage and cast, but also will be turned off one by one throughout the performance to represent the destruction of family homes and Jewish lives. Costumes should not only be 'timeless', to bridge the gap between 'past' and 'present' scenes, but also link to the colour scheme found within a British passport to link to the passport puppets scene. 

We were also joined last night by Dave Murray, a musician from the Leeds College of Music. Part of the show involves a musical performance by Escape:CYT member, Thomas Madeley. Thomas will be playing the viola, accompanied by the soundtrack created by Dave, during Thomas' off-stage parts. Last night was the first time Thomas had ever seen the score for the piece, and I was very impressed to find he had already learnt it by the time came to rehearsing the section.

These are two aspects of the show that will fall into place at the rehearsal at the town hall next week, In the meantime, I will need to keep working on THE BOOK, with full notes on lighting, music and cues for the techies.

Day 9 - Rehearsals

Due to deadlines and impending exams, I didn't blog after last week's session. I still have deadlines and impending  doom  exams to do, so this will only be a short post to check-in.

As the title suggests, the group have been practising and ardently rehearsing the show. Nope, I'm not sharing any details now, so close to performance date, but I will divulge that it is looking great. The piece is a product of dark visuals contrasted with wordy, but fascinating text. Simon is still inciting the group to read text-y lines as though the words are real. We don't want the piece to be monotonous with the audience falling asleep in-between the visual sections, so it's interesting that the group continue to read lines as though they are narrating. However this improves all the time and once the group have learnt their lines off by heart, it will be much easier to direct the young people to inflect life and thought into their words.

Next week, the young people are rehearsing at Leeds Town Hall in costume and organisers/contributors of the exhibition will be observing. Although we are on target thereabouts in terms of progress through the script having rehearsed each section, it puts Simon, Anthony and I under some pressure to organise the group and piece together each scene. The problems that may arise could be lack of concentration due to the excitement of rehearsing in Leeds Town Hall, forgetting lines (or not having attempted to learn lines at all) and forgetting props or costume. In light of this, I'm going to play some fun games based on concentration at the start of the rehearsal to get everybody focused.

I still feel a surge of adrenaline/panic every time I think about the tasks yet to be completed for the show (could just be the quantity of coffee consumed), but I am so excited for the 25th and 27th of January to roll along so that the group can perform and to see the exhibition. Everyone's hard work will undoubtedly pay off, not only from Anthony, Simon and the group; but also academics and researchers.



Remember to book your tickets via Matt Boswell at rsvptransholomemory@gmail.com
and to check out https://twitter.com/TransHoloMemory for updates on the conference.