A new play in collaboration with Professor Alice König, and St Andrews University, with support from The Society for Classical Studies, East London & Essex Liberal Synagogue, JW3 and Etz Hayyim Synagogue (Crete). With a creative team that includes key members of top contemporary theatre companies Gecko, 1927, Barefaced Greek and Ephemeral Ensemble. The show’s been in development since December 2023, and a work-in-progress preview will take place at Upstairs at the Gatehouse, in Highgate on May the 3rd, followed by a run at the venue from the 26th October to 15th of November.
Rena is the working title of the production, taken from the main protagonist, a fictional survivor of the Holocaust. Born to a Jewish family in Chania, Crete, in 1934, some of her earliest and fondest memories are learning Greek myths at school, which we see her continue to engage with as she matures. Rena lives through the occupation of her island by the Nazis, and miraculously escapes, as her family, and the entire Jewish population on the island are rounded up and placed on a ship, the SS Tanais, bound for the Nazi death camps, along with Cretan resistance fighters and Italian prisoners of war.
Rena hides in an ancient olive tree and tumbles into the famous labyrinth of Knossos where she encounters the Minotaur. The labyrinth becomes a liminal space where she begins to process feelings of loss, grief and anger. Will Rena be able to keep the Minotaur at bay, and what will that take?
The play follows Rena through out her life as she tries to come to terms with the loss of her family and community, and in doing so, takes the audience on a journey to explore different understandings of peace-seeking and peace-making in the wake of conflict, both ancient and modern.
The historical context is based on a little known but true story, and, despite the amazing work of a few people in Chania, Crete, based at the Etz Hayyim synagogue, the loss of the 2300 year old Romaniote Jewish community there has been largely forgotten.
We aim to bring the fate of this community to a wider public sphere, whist exploring that complex and deeply necessary quest for peace in the wake of violence both personally and in the broader sense.
Rena: in the wake of war – Blog by Prof. Alice König
The clips here are from the first period of R&D…
NMT Automatics 