featured: Under the Skin

Posted May 2nd, 2015 filed under featured, featured En.

Under the Skin / Yonatan Calderon
Based on a true story


Periodical Drama Historical Play Subject: Holocaust LGBT Text in: he English	Tel-Aviv, 1991. Kirsten, a young German reporter, arrives at Charlotte’s door. Through probing questions, Kirsten seeks to unveil the suppressed ghosts from Charlotte’s past, centered around her once-promising career as a Jewish Prima Ballerina, abruptly cut short in her prime. As the evening progresses, Charlotte unveils a love affair she had with her lesbian Nazi SS commander, Ilse Kohlmann, at Neugraben concentration camp. Charlotte shares with Kirsten the complexities of their relationship and the profound impact it had on her. Germany, 1945. As the war nears its end and her prisoners are transferred to Bergen Belsen, Ilse Kohlmann, donning a prisoner uniform, willingly infiltrates into the hellish death camp to share the same fate as her lover. Throughout the play, poignant flashbacks interrupt the main storyline. In these moments, the roles of the German reporter and Charlotte interchange, with Kirsten portraying the young prisoner, and the Holocaust survivor embodying the persona of the Nazi woman. This narrative device compels the audience to confront the intricacies of love and survival during one of history’s darkest periods.
The characters	Female:3 Male:0 Total:3 Actress 1: CHARLOTTE BROD 66, Israeli holocaust survivor living in Tel Aviv ILSE KOHLMANN (BUBE) 30, Nazi commander in a women’s labor-camp Actress 2: KIRSTEN EBERHARDT 22, Young German journalist LOTTE ROSNER 22, Young CHARLOTTE, Prima Ballerina, Prisoner in a labor-camp Actress 3: IDA BERMAN 22, Prisoner in a labor-camp DR. SCHMIDT Nazi Physician in a labor-camp CABARET HOST Nazi host of the S.S. officers party
Translations	Italian, English, German, Czech, Russian המחזה תורגם לחמש שפות: אנגלית, רוסית, גרמנית, איטלקית וצ’כית.
Productions	Premierre Tzavta director: Rakefet Binyamin More in Israel Nominated Fringe play of the year 2016. October 2015, Directed at Beit Tzvi Acting School by Debbie Yablonka. December 2015, Performed at the MoldFest international theater festival in Moldova. theaters TAU , Tzavta Productions Abroad Austria , Italy , The United Kingdom of Great Britain London, 2017 Director: Ariella Eshed Old Red Lion Theatre, Tristan Bates Theatre, Women and War Festival, Camden Fringe Festival, Brighton Fringe Festival Vienna, 2019 Director: Bruno Kartochvil TheaterArche Livorno (Italy), 2023 Director: Micaela Ghiozzi Teatro Vertigo
Critics	“Short, sharp and brave theatre” (Close Up Culture) “a deeply moving and touching retelling whose importance is unquestionable [that] definitely will get under your skin!” ( Lara Domke, A Younger Theatre) “Playwright Yonatan Calderon has wrought a short play of shocking beauty” (Jewish Renaissance) “The play encourages understanding and compassion and avoids melodrama” (British Theatre Guide) “The play […] digs deep into the human psyche to explore what war and what power does to people and what love can do” (London Calling) “lyrical”, “thought-provoking play” (Kezia Niman, Plays to See) “In the wrong hands, a story such as Under The Skin could be incendiary”, “Calderon makes a powerful case for really interrogating what we mean by morality, how we look at the past and how we let it shape us now. Bold fringe work.” (Ian Foster) "Ten shows you have to see at Camden Fringe" (Timeout London)