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The Review - THEATRE by ROXANNE BLAKELOCK
Published: 9 October 2008

Memory’s painful walk down a four-way street

MEMORY
Pleasance Theatre

IT is impossible to overstate the power and energy of this extremely moving play – a work full of poetry, brilliantly executed by the cast.
Playwright Jonathan Lichtenstein draws parallels between Jewish suffering in Nazi Germany and the Israel/Palestine conflict in Bethlehem in 2006, where the 400-mile Israeli West Bank barrier is being built.
We also see scenes between 78-year-old Eva and her grandson, set in 1990 just after the Berlin wall has been taken down. He wants to know about his grandmother’s history – but some of it is too painful for her to relate.
The scenes flash between these three periods, as well as the modern-day setting of the actors playing them out in their rehearsal room.
The play-within-a-play format does not take away from its power – it breaks up the agonising subject matter with some comic relief.
But at times it serves to intensify the pain when there is an overlap between the agony of the characters and the actors playing them, who feel their characters’ pain.
In a vivid exploration of what the human spirit can endure, Lichtenstein comments both on the difficulty and the importance of remembering .
Vivien Parry, who plays Eva, and Simon Nehan, who plays her love, Aron, are outstanding. They deliver believable and touching performances in a theatrical treat that should not be missed.
Until November 2
020 7609 1800

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