There have been many plays written about the Holocaust, but these plays are essential in educating generations who can no longer discuss this subject with survivors who are the primary source of information and education. Like the character in the play, playwright, and performer Jonathan Salt works with children, and specialises in educating people about the Holocaust and Genocide.
Salt takes on the role of Janusz Korczak, a Polish Jew living in Warsaw who was a writer, educator, and doctor. The play is based upon Korczak’s diaries entitled ‘The Ghetto Diaries,’ and is set in May 1942 when Warsaw was under siege by Hitler’s army, when the Jews were being gradually segregated. Korczak opened two orphanages, one managed by himself, and the play begins with him reminiscing about his youth, and the reality of looking after children living in such poverty and trying not to allow his fear for the future, to show to the children.
The staging is set in Korczak’s room, simply furnished and grubby, a reflection of how he and the children lived, with disease and not enough food, or medicine. Salt plays Korczak as a man with great empathy, treating the children as equals, he is also their voice, and as they are orphans, Korczak has assumed the role of parent, teacher, and doctor to them.
The play is beautifully written, compelling, and Jonathan Salt sensitively portrays Korczak, and the play’s development was clearly a labour of love. As a tool for education, it provides detail of how Polish Jews were forced to live during the war, and how they were exterminated in the camps at Treblinka. The innocence of the children faced with such cruelty is heart-wrenching, and Salt plays Korczak as a gentle, caring, loyal man, who tries his best to protect the children from the horrors that they must face.
This excellent, well-written and perfectly executed play should be on your list of plays to see at the Fringe this year, the team behind the show enhance the whole experience, and ensure its smooth running.
If you would like to see the play, it runs from the 3rd – 24th August (not 11th or 18th), and you can book tickets by going to – https://tickets.edfringe.com/whats-on/confessions-of-a-butterfly-an-evening-with-janusz-korczak
Reviewer: Caroline Worswick
Reviewed: 2nd August 2024
North West End UK Rating: