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In 1938 Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz wrote his novel about Kristallnacht which was probably in part based on his personal experience, as he and his mother had fled Germany in 1935 after the promulgation of the Nuremberg Race Laws. This work was then largely forgotten, only to be rediscovered and published in 2015. In 2021, it became a bestseller and has now been published in more than twenty languages. The Passenger is the terrifying story of Otto Silbermann's flight from his home, his nightmarish train hopping to escape detection as a Jew and his desperate attempt to flee to Belgium. All the quality of pervasive menace and Kafkaesque absurdity that was present in the original novel is wonderfully captured in this evocative stage adaptation. With only a simple set, and some excellent sound effects, a strong cast led by Robert Neumark Jones as Silbermann manage to convey the bewildering and terrifying reality of the fugitive's predicament. However, despite these excellent efforts, The Passenger doesn't quite work as a play. The other characters are only sketched in, and while the atmosphere and emotion are quite brilliantly created, there is an absence of narrative development that leaves one dissatisfied. The powerful conjuring of a very dark time and place and the creation of an intense connection with a protagonist's anguish isn't enough to sustain a ninety minute play. Nevertheless, The Passenger is a forceful indictment of what can happen when a society starts to blame its ills on an alleged "other."
Rated: ★★★
Reviewed by J.C.
Photo by Steve Gregson
When, Where, Getting there:
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