‘I write from a place of anger’: the playwright confronting Holocaust memory

When theatres went dark during Covid many in the theatre world ceased to work. But for Israeli-born writer Noga Flaishon lockdown signalled the start of an intensive time of playwriting and the creation of her play Memoriam, which opens today in London after at sell-out run in the US.

“I like to write short stories and then turn them into dramas,” Noga explains, “and for me writing is cathartic because my writing comes from a place of anger. When I look around and see what is happening in the world, I become so angry and I have to place this anger somewhere, and that place is in my writing.

“I suppose the idea for this play really started in 2019 when there was the whole ‘Jewface’ debate about people in theatre portraying Jews. It made me angry and bewildered.

“I realised so many people do not like us. And then, during Covid, anti-vaccination protesters wore yellow star-shaped badges to compare Covid vaccine requirements and restrictions to Nazi persecution. It made me think about perceptions and how people can view an event like the Holocaust, but their perceptions of the same event can be so different.”

The play is set in the future when a tech company called Memoriam is able to extract and repackage human memories as immersive VR experiences.

When her grandmother Rivka becomes the last living Holocaust survivor, Memoriam employee Rachel sees an opportunity to preserve her memories and safeguard an invaluable piece of history. But as the boundaries between commerce and remembrance begin to blur, the repercussions for their family prove far greater than anyone could imagine.

The play is both deeply moving and surprisingly funny and looks at the commodification of memory, the legacy of trauma and the stories passed on through the generations.

“I have written Memoriam as a play for all people,” says Noga. “It is not a Jewish play, it is for both Jewish and gentile audiences. And because I have been mortified by the attitude of so many young people towards the Holocaust, there are 40 tickets reserved for people aged under 25 so that they can hear the performance’s important message.”

The play has a particular poignancy for director Daniel Goldman because his grandmother held a very special place in his heart.

“My grandmother was a truly wonderful person. A Holocaust survivor, she saw art as a form of debate and dialogue. She believed you could find peace in culture and from when I was a young child, she would take me to matinees at the theatre and to see artworks,” he says.

“She was my favourite person in the world, and I spent an inordinate amount of time with her. We had such a special relationship. She talked about her experiences, and they coloured my life.

“She came from a small village, a shtetl, near Lvov and was part of a huge family of over 30 people. They were rounded up and on a train travelling to an extermination camp when miraculously she managed to jump to freedom. It saved her life and she later discovered that her family had perished in a camp, a camp where the life expectancy was just two hours. So, for me, to be directing this play is truly a privilege and means so much to me.”

It was the love of theatre instilled in him by his grandmother that caused Daniel, while at Cambridge University studying Spanish and Portuguese, to attempt his first foray into acting.

South London raised Daniel then studied in Buenos Aires as part of his degree and worked as a teacher doing back-to-back shifts throughout the day and evening. He then decided to train to be a professional actor and had a successful stage career until he chose to take on fewer acting roles and concentrate on becoming a theatre director.

Memoriam runs until 21 November at The Large, Southwark Playhouse. southwarkplayhouse.co.uk