Stay With Me (2006)
Directed by Stuart Draper, Angela Barnes, Maria Bates and Dave Hollander
Performances: Tue 20th – Sat 24th February 2006, Prompt Corner
Contents
Introduction
In a German concentration camp, nine children band together in order to survive. Thousands of miles away, six children face a similar dilemma in a bombed-out school cellar. Together they learn that love can cross oceans.
This Is My Story
23 January 1945. It's cold. Very cold. The children in 5B47D are starving.But they have each other. They have each other because they are Jewish. When Blieta, a young Sinti girl, is thrown into their dormitory, she sparks off rivalries that question the alliances made, and throws into doubt the survival of the children present.
That Lovely Land
23 January 1945. A stray bomb hits a school in the South of England trappingfive children in its cellar. Noone knows they're there and time is runningout. Slipping in and out of the past, Daisy revisits the night she grew up.She's been doing it every night in her dreams for the past sixty years. Buttonight is different. Because tonight Daisy is going home.
Crew
- Producer - Ronae Jolliffe
- Director - This Is My Story - Maria Bates/Dave Hollander
- Director - That Lovely Land - Stuart Draper/Angela Barnes
- Fight Director - Anton Krause
- Choreography - Heather French
- Stage Manager - David Clements/Charlotte Dobson
- Sound & Lighting Design - Stuart Draper
- Lighting Operator - Phil Gammon
- Sound Operator - Emma Wilson
- Sound Rigger - James Denny
- Ass Sound Rigger - Dave Chaisty
- Costumes - Michelle Thomson, Stuart Draper
- Set Design - Dave Hollander
- Language Coach - Dave Hollander
- Photographer - Phil Gammon
- Poster & Programme Design - Maria Bates
Reviews
Stay With Me - Greenwich Playhouse (Review)
Review by Rebecca Omonira-Oyekanmi THE theatre company Melmouth have created a moving play and production but the true stars of Stay With Me are the young actors from the South London Youth Theatre.
Stay With Me explores the experiences of two groups of young children during the Second World War. Their circumstances could not be more different; one group are German children in a concentration camp, the second are English evacuees trapped in a cellar during a bomb raid.
They are chillingly connected as each loses their innocence as they try to comprehend the horrors of a war beyond their control.
The first section of the performance, This Is My Story, is the dramatically superior. A group of Jewish children are imprisoned in a concentration camp.
They struggle to understand the complete horror of their plight and slowly their curious youth is replaced by mental deterioration. Amidst this helplessness, their complete faith in religion sits uncomfortably but powerfully.
As a young gypsy girl is thrown into their block they fight with their own prejudices. The children of the South London Youth Theatre give mature performances. Their acting talent is evident as they sincerely portray an experience a million miles removed from their own Western 21st Century ones.
The dialogue of their individual monologues is precocious and a little too sharp for a child. But perhaps the eloquence is necessary as the children struggle to cope with being thrust into an unpleasant adulthood.
The second half, That Lovely Land, although acted with an admirable earnestness, was not as poignant. As the second group experience their own horror of war they too find themselves entering adulthood in grim circumstances.
Unfortunately, the unfunny portrayal of the silly English stereotypes takes away from the story. Perhaps all children in England pre-1945 were one of three stereotypes: brave, brooding silent boy; stupid, clumsy but endearing boy or clever but silly-around-boys young girl.
However, their inclusion in this drama gets in the way of the story being told.
Despite this, the performance as a whole was brilliant and the play would be a good outing for young children struggling to find entertainment away from their Playstations, mobile phones and Big Brother.
It is a drama that looks beyond the secret annexe and doesn’t shy away from the brutal truth of what Anne Frank may have experienced next.
During the interval someone was in tears; a testament to the power of the play that speaks volumes and says more than any critical review.
Gallery
Reminiscences and Anecdotes
Members are encouraged to write about their experiences of working on or seeing this production. Please leave your name. Anonymous entries may be deleted.
See Also
Have there been other SLT productions of this play? Link to them here.
Or add anything that is related within this site. The author's page for instance or other plays with a similar theme.
