Casting has been announced for Rosenbaum’s Rescue, the World Premiere play exploring the true story of how over 7,000 Danish Jews managed to escape the Nazi occupation in 1943. Starring Olivier Award-winner David Bamber, Neil McCaul, Dorothea Myer-Bennett and Julia Swift, the production unearths new accounts behind one of history’s most compelling mysteries. Directed by Kate Fahy and written by A. Bodin Saphir.
October, 1943. Seven and a half thousand Jews flee Denmark in fishermen’s boats, crossing the water to Sweden and to safety from the occupying Nazi regime. To some, a miracle rescue of biblical proportions. To others, the question remains: how did thousands of Jews slip through the grasp of the most powerful war machine ever assembled?
Hanukkah, 2001. At a remote home on the snowy Danish coast, it’s time for two old friends to bury the hatchet. Lars and Abraham have not seen eye to eye for decades, but old tensions refuse to thaw as Lars’ relentless pursuit of the truth concerning the flight of Danish Jews during WWII challenges Abraham’s faith, patience and memories. And when an old secret surfaces and threatens the very foundation of their relationship, fact starts to blur with fiction.
Playwright A. Bodin Saphir said: “ ‘Rosenbaum’s Rescue’ is inspired by my grandparents’ story of escape from Nazi occupied Denmark. Although he rarely talked about it, my grandfather was witness to a moment in history that contemporary historians now believe to be an important piece in the puzzle to understand why the ‘rescue’ of the Danish Jews was so successful and who was responsible for its success.
Armed with a perspective and information unavailable to their predecessors, a new generation of Danish historians are re-examining that ‘Miracle Rescue’ and their conclusions have proven shocking. This play is a testament to the evolution of that narrative from a black and white fairytale to a more complex, and in many ways, a more profound truth of a thousand greys. And although my grandfather found it difficult to speak of that time, I feel that now his story has finally been heard.”
Rosenbaum’s Rescue is at Park Theatre 9th January to 9th February 2019.
