REVIEW: The Passenger, Finborough Theatre

What would you do, if, overnight, you lost your home, your job, your family and your freedom? Where would you go, how would you live?

The Passenger is the terrifying story of Otto Silbermann, a man who has done nothing wrong, who has committed no crime, but who is on the run – simply because he is a Jew.

It is November 1938. It is Berlin. It is Kristallnacht. And nowhere is safe for a Jew.

Based on the Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz novel, this 90-minute long stage adaptation by Nadya Menuhin – her first full length play – with award-winning Tim Supple bringing superb direction is beautifully conceived.

Set in the round, in the intimate atmosphere of the Finborough Theatre, a talented cast of five actors create the drama and tension of Otto Silbermann’s terror as his life unravels. A simple set is used to great effect, with wonderful use of sound creating Otto’s perilous journey across a country from which there is no escape.

The story of The Passenger lay undiscovered for 70 years. When the manuscript was rediscovered, the book was published and became an overnight sensation.

The life of it author is, in itself, like the plot from a book. Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz was born in Berlin in 1915. When in 1935 his uncle was murdered in the street for criticising the Nuremberg Laws, Boschwitz and his mother fled to Norway. And it was there that he wrote his first novel. But it was the events in Germany in 1938 that inspired him to write The Passenger as a response to Kristallnacht.

Having travelled across Europe, Boschwitz and his mother came to Britain in 1939 and there they were imprisoned as enemy aliens. In July 1940, Boschwitz was deported to Australia to be interned at a camp in New South Wales. On the voyage, a crew member threw the only draft of Boschwitz’s latest work into the sea. Boschwitz remained in Australia until 1942, when he was freed and allowed to return to Britain. Yet tragically on 29 October 1942, his ship was torpedoed and sunk by a German submarine. All 362 people aboard perished. Boschwitz was aged just 27, and his writings were lost at sea.

The Passenger is at the Finborough Theatre until 15 March. finborough.co.uk