Suitcase

Author(s):

Suitcase is a site-specific promenade performance created to tell the story of the first arrivals in Britain of the Kindertransport, performed at train stations. Suitcase takes its audience on a journey around the station, meeting children who came on the Kindertransport as well as an organizer for the Refugee Children's Movement, a fundraising railway worker, foster parents waiting for their assigned child and a tea-drinking woman objecting to the arrival of the children. The performance features songs of the time and original music.
Format: Site specific promenade performance.
Cast Size: 5M/6F (with doubling)
Character breakdown

Hanni, 12 years old, from Vienna, Kurt’s sister
Kurt, 8 years old, Hanni’s younger brother
Stephan, 13 years old, from Prague
Anne Wilson, an English foster sister, 8 years old
Ilse, 10 years old
Edith, an Englishwoman who drinks tea
Eva, a mother
Mrs. Groggins
Edward Garbet, a prospective foster parent
Emma Garbet, a prospective foster parent
Harry, 16 years old
Renie, 9 years old
Bill Prentiss, a railway porter
Eric, 14 years old
Mrs. Hilton, Refugee Children’s Movement organiser
2 musicians

Snapshot

Original or Prominent Production: Glasgow Central Station, November 11, 2013.
Original Source Material: Published memoirs and original interviews with those who came to Britain on the Kindertransport; archive documents and newspaper reports from 1938.
Nationality of Author:
Original Language: English
Production Rights Holder:

Freely available on internet:
http://suitcase1938.org/education-resources/
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwFd1nzFyUc

Experience(s) Chronicled: | |

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