The Milliner

A portrait of a group of people who are unwilling to give up Germany as their home, despite the Nazi threats. Wolfgang, a hat maker, is forced by others to flee Germany for England, leaving his mother behind, who refuses to go. Filled with love for his homeland, he is unable to accept that she has probably been interned in a death camp, and he staunchly refuses to give up his German identity in front of his new British neighbors. Wolfgang's struggle of adamant denial sheds light on the agony of losing the only home ones knows and loves.

Format: Full-length drama

Cast Size:3M/4F

Character breakdown:

Wolfgang Georg—Mid-late 40s; Jewish; handsome, sexy, charismatic; a complex, multi-layered character.
Amalia Georg—30s; Wolfgang’s wife; dark-haired, attractive, sensitive, worldly and pragmatic.
Claudia—30s. Owns and runs a fashionable milliner’s boutique in Berlin; a sometimes cabaret singer. Blonde, sexy and Aryan in appearance; a strong Dietrich style voice. Confident, flirtatious and with a surface affability that conceals a far darker side to her nature.
Wolfgang’s mother—Late 40s/early 50s; a refined Berliner; strong willed and sensitive.
Frau Hendel—Early 50s; an attractive gentile Berliner.
Gerhardt Müller—30s; blonde and Aryan looking; charming in a very Germanic way.
Max—40s/50s; concierge; warm natured and friendly.
Heinz—40s; Claudia’s friend; jovial and affable.
Paul—40s; Claudia’s friend; reserved.

Original or Prominent Production:
Classic Stage Company, New York, November, 2006.

Original Source Material: Inspired by the author’s grandfather, a Jewish hatmaker, pianist and linguist from Berlin who moved to London during the Nazi era.

Original Language: English

Publisher:

Samuel French

Production Rights Holder:

Samuel French

Experience(s) Chronicled: European Jewry Before the Holocaust | Germany, Hitler and the Growth of Nazism | Survivors and Subsequent Generations | Escape