The Book Thief

 

Review by Paul Towers, 4/10/23

The Book Thief based on the novel by Markus Zusak, libretto by Jodi Picoult & Timothy Allen McDonald, music & lyrics by Elyssa Samel & Kate Anderson

Directed by Lotte Wakeham

Produced by Octagon Theatre Bolton

At Curve til Saturday 14^th October 2023

“A powerful indictment of a terrible period in history”

First up I have to say that I have never read the book so I have sat down with no preconceptions.

The Book Thief is set in 1940 Germany, a time when Nazism was making its presence felt across Europe and nobody had any idea of the horrors to come.

Illiterate Liesel (Erini Louskou at tonight’s Press Night giving a very assured performance) has just lost both her parents and brother. Kneeling by her brother’s graveside she steals her first book. Her Jewish foster parents Rosa and Hans Huberman (Mina Anwar and Jack Lord) hide a Jewish boy, Max (Daniel Krikler), in their cellar and it is he that instils in Liesel the wonders of reading and writing so she steals books whenever she can to feed her voracious appetite for education. As Max says, words are the most powerful thing in the world and can change things for good and bad. This theme is beautifully carried through with a sequence where a huge puppet of Hitler is made out of papier mâché, paper covered in words.

Liesel, like Anne Frank, determines to write down everything she sees and shares it with her friend Rudy (Oliver Gordon giving a precociously energetic performance). That way it will never be forgotten. And as we now know, without those testimonies some would conveniently forget. Watching the lines of Jews being herded onto trains we are reminded of modern day efforts to wipe out voices with cancel culture.

You might think that a story of privation, abuse and worse would not be suitable material for a musical but both the authors and the musical composers have layered the narrative with humour throughout, especially the domestic sparring between Rosa and her husband Hans.

The cast includes a large ensemble of talented dancer/singers who inhabit various characters as well as moving props. The set, designed by Good Teeth, is a wonder to behold.

The Book Thief runs at Curve until Saturday 14^th October. At the moment there are no confirmed dates for it to transfer. It deserves to end up in London.

 

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