Review: I WAS A GERMAN, VAULT Festival

When Brexit went from theory to reality, Clare Fraenkel looked into her German heritage and found out she was entitled to a German passport. Due to the restoration of German citizenship granted by Article 116 of the Basic Law, her grandfather's epic escape from Nazi Germany in 1933 had a domino effect on her European future. In a show that seeps creativity and marries storytelling to historical fact, Fraenkel sets off on an incredible adventure.

Original music and an interesting use of shadow-play against projections tell the tale of a clever, curious Jewish man who went as far as inviting a Nazi for a post-war coffee to hear his point of view. Cardboard props appear from suitcases as she explores how Heinz's story accidentally affected her own. Directed by Lowri James, I Was A German is as life-affirming as it is amusing.

From his last party in Berlin to an internment camp on the Isle of Man and his eventual rejection of nationality, it's a wonderful celebration of a life that happened against all odds. As cabaret shows become riskier and the city of Berlin splits in the middle, Heinz finally goes back to his beloved Germany, but feels alienated. Stripped of his citizenship and therefore stateless, he is forced to visit as a war correspondent with a British courtesy rank and an ill-fitting uniform. It becomes the perfect allegory for his relationship with the country.

She uses her grandad's admiration for British tolerance to ask an important question: is Britain still as humane as it was when the public wrote to Churchill to demand the immediate release of "enemy aliens"? With tensions rising all over the world and a surge of Neo-Nazi protests, the piece turns into an urgent warning.

I Was A German runs at VAULT Festival until 24 February.

VAULT Festival has been left without a venue for next year. You can contribute to the #SaveVAULT campaign here.

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