Review: I Was a German, EdFringe

Rarely do you encounter a fringe production as beautifully crafted, considered and compelling as Clare Fraenkel‘s I Was a German. It’s a confident one woman show that humorously and intelligently takes us on an historical journey to consider how we think about refugees today by looking back at her own family history.

The play starts as Fraenkel is going through the process of becoming a German citizen in the aftermath of Brexit. She is eligible because her grandfather Heinrich – Heinz to his friends – was a German Jew, but forced from his homeland by the Nazi dictatorship.

The play relates the events that have led up to this moment with Fraenkel not only deftly playing multiple parts, including that of her grandfather, but placing him in the space by using his words verbatim to reveal many of the memories he left behind. And she is an outstanding storyteller, charming, witty, bold or theatrical as required. Her close family relationship with the material brings a fiercely human quality to the telling of the tale that is emotive and authentic. Cleverly comparative moments in the dexterous writing set actions from the past against those of today to connect our worlds, equating sitting endlessly by the radio to doom scrolling or imagining a home town from an audience member brutally divided in the way Berlin was.

Lowri James’ direction is sensitive and effective, managing a huge amount of information through different performance techniques and media to give variety and interest. We travel through time and location with the help of props and projections that signal the aesthetic of the period: suitcases pop open to reveal details of Heinz’s story; beautiful shadowplay merges ideas of past and present, connecting pieces of the tale – and the people in it – across time. Heinz’s role as a journalist is even visually embodied in the paper materials of props. Fabulous music and sound design are sympathetic to the shifting story as it moves between time periods and countries, from passport offices to nightclubs.

There’s a gentle level of audience participation which is key to including spectators in a conversation about what happened, making them instead an active part of it. Fraenkel has them physically help interred Jews by pressing a light switch, and initiate positive action by keeping her grandfather’s papers safe for him.

Giving a name to a refugee as an individual in this way and talking about what the Soviets, Nazis and the British did during the war raises urgent questions of how we behave now, at a time when so many people in the world – nameless numbers – need help. Fraenkel gently questions the attitudes of the Britain we are in today, wondering if the justice and tolerance that her grandfather saw in this nation are still core traits. And we’re reminded that key to all of this is the individual’s choice of how to behave. Ultimately Fraenkel decides to reclaim her family’s lost citizenship in an active and considered personal rite.

Funny, insightful and incisive, this is an important play, superbly performed and executed. It calls upon us all to take responsibility, finding our humanity towards refugees and immigrants by understanding one person’s past.

Written by: Clare Fraenkel
Directed by: Lowri James
Composed & Sound Design by: Arran Glass
Lighting Design by: Pablo Fernandez Baz
Set & Costume Design by: Nicola Blackwell
Produced by: Clare Fraenkel/Suzanna Rosenthal Productions​
Music & sound produced with RU LEMER of TEMPLE MUSIC STUDIO

I Was a German runs at ZOO Southside until Saturday 24 August, as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.