Under the Skin

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Historical Play
Periodical Drama
Subject:
Holocaust
LGBT

Text in:

he en

Tel Aviv, During the Gulf War. A young German journalist knocks on the door of a Holocaust survivor and questions her about a secret love affair that took place between a Nazi officer and a Jewish prisoner. Over one stormy night, the ghosts of the past, family secrets and questions of morality and love are rising.

One day during World War II, after her inmates were transferred to Bergen-Belsen, the Nazi officer Ilse kohlmann puts on prisoners uniform and voluntarily enters hell on earth in order to be close to her Jewish lover.

The characters

Female: 3 Male: 1 Total: 3

Actress 1:
Charlotte Brod – Jewish holocaust survivor living in Tel Aviv (66)
/ Ilse Kohlman (Bube) – Nazi commander in a women’s labor camp (30)

Actress 2:
Kirsten Eberhardt – Young German journalist (20)
/ Lotte Rosner – Young Charlotte, Ballet dancer, Prisoner in a labor camp (20)

Actress 3:
Ida Berman – Prisoner in a labor camp (20)

Translations

Czech, German, Italian

Productions

Premierre

2013 The Cube LGBT Theater 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.


Productions Abroad

Austria, England

2017, London
Director: Ariella Eshed
Participated in Women and War Festival and selected as one of ten most interesting shows in Camden Fringe Festival.

2017, Arena Bar Theater, Vienna
Director: Bruno Kratochvil
Reading in German during Israel Stücke Aktuell Festival.

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!” (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)

“Under The Skin is full of ‘small moments’ that are actually quite telling.”
(Breaking the Fourth Wall☆☆☆☆)

“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” (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)

“The moral and ethical quandaries of this piece will stay with me for a long time” (FringeReview, Brighton Fringe Festival)

“Ten shows you have to see at Camden Fringe” (Timeout London)

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