We all know or remember the wonderful Naomi Paul from her workshops at WWB, she has passed on this recommendation:
A ONE WOMAN PLAY THAT CHALLENGES US TO RETHINK QUESTIONS OF RESISTANCE, RESPONSIBILITY, AND HUMANITY
adapted for the stage and performed by
SUSAN STEIN
directed by AUSTIN PENDLETON
on Sunday January 31st, 3pm
Followed by a discussion at
Birmingham Progressive Synagogue
1 Roseland Way,
Birmingham B15 1HD
Tickets £10, 16 and under £5
available in advance from Birmingham Progressive Synagogue,
office@bpsjudaism.com
0121 634 3888
Etty is a touring one-woman play based on the diaries and letters of Etty Hillesum, adapted and performed by Susan Stein. Directed by Austin Pendleton.
Using only Etty Hillesum’s words, Susan Stein’s adaptation brings us to 1941 when Esther “Etty” Hillesum, a young Dutch Jewish woman, is living in Amsterdam. Upon the recommendation of her therapist, Julius Spier, she began a diary on 8 March 1941 to help her with her depression. Hoping to become a writer, the diaries take on their own literary life, presenting both Etty’s growth as a writer and spiritual transformation. As deportations begin, she prepares for the three-day journey eastward, she digs deeper into her soul to understand this piece of history and root out any hatred or bitterness, believing that humanity is the best and only solution for survival. Etty’s words, insights and beliefs reach out from the Holocaust and allow us to see the power of hope and individual thought in the most extreme circumstances. In her gentle yet forthright way, Etty asks us not to leave her at Auschwitz but to let her have a bit of a say in what she hopes will be a new world.
Actor/writer Susan Stein has culled through and adapted Etty Hillesum’s writings, resulting in a powerful and moving 60 minutes in which Stein portrays Etty, demonstrating her yearnings, her fears, her intimate relationship with God, …
Diana Barth. Theater Review: ‘Etty’.. The Epoch Times. 2010-Jul-20.
Writers Without Borders 