DR KORCZAK'S EXAMPLE To 18 July.
London.
DR KORCZAK’S EXAMPLE
by David Greig.
Arcola Theatre 27 Arcola Street E8 2DJ To 18 July 2009.
Mon-Sat 8pm Mat Sat 3pm.
Runs 1hr 20min No interval.
TICKETS: 020 7503 1646.
www.arcolatheatre.com
Review: Timothy Ramsden 7 July.
Atmospheric revival of a young person’s play that addresses all ages.
David Greig’s play began as part of TAG theatre’s three-year Making a Nation programme around the time of Scottish devolution. Dr Janusz Korczak may not have had a parliament (certainly not an ornate one such as was rising slowly then in Edinburgh) but in his orphanage he had a court, where the children brought cases of what we’d probably call misbehaviour.
It’s here newcomer Adzio, with his streetwise survival instinct, is accused of stealing someone else’s rations. In the trial, where he cannot sustain his case, being more used to terse defiance, he also learns how his sole act of helping another person is something that benefits him - not that he’d ever admit to actually having helped someone. For Dr Korczak educates children into civilisation by respecting them as people.
If Adzio’s a problem, he’s nothing compared to what’s happening outside; for this is the Warsaw Ghetto in 1942. Though he talks, unheard, to the young German guard (here, a hanging uniform with wooden rifle) outside the orphanage, Korczak is increasingly aware of the hardships the harsh conditions are bringing, though he cannot imagine the Germans intend killing the orphans. When it becomes clear they will, Korczak declines an invitation to escape death himself and leads them marching to the Treblinka train, flying a symbolic green flag.
Adzio and his friend, Korczak’s lieutenant Stephanie, hide and later join the Warsaw Uprising. After the war Korczak’s example underpins the United Nations Rights of the Child principles.
This revival comes from the Royal Exchange Studio in Manchester. The acting in Amy Leach’s production is clear and strong if not particularly subtle, while Miriam Nabarro’s set with its wooden shelves where the children sometimes huddle amid the suitcases suggesting transience at one end of the stage, and great wooden doors which eventually open as the children march out at the other, creates an atmosphere of austerity and privation. Shoes lining the stage sides suggest the number of orphans and, again, a sense of their insecurity.
Besides playing Korczak Philip Rham contributes ‘cello music which deepens the play’s sombre, if momentarily humorous, mood.
Dr Korczak: Philip Rham
Adzio: Craig Vye.
Stephanie: Amaka Okafor.
Director: Amy Leach.
Design: Miriam Nabarro.
Lighting: Richard Owen.
Sound: Gerry Marsden.
2009-07-08 10:26:18