Theatre Alba

Josef
Lothian Times

BASED loosely on - or perhaps inspired by - the real-life experiences of author Raymond Ross's. late Polish father, the eponymous Josef takes us through his war-time interrogations and beatings at the hands of the Nazis, his assisted escape to the UK and his later years here as a naturalised British citizen.
It's strong stuff. Josef has been detained by the police and, in his fractured English, is strenuously denying a shoplifting charge. He's subjected to a nice cop/nasty cop interview but the session soon deteriorates into a battle of wills.

But somewhere along the line of questioning we suspect there's a deep secret lurking, a something that goes far beyond the accusation of petty theft. But nobody's telling. Not yet, anyway.

Sadly, Josef's brush with the law serves only to rekindle traumatic, personal memories. Grainy images of concentration camp victims flit across a back projection screen in a never-ending black and white nightmare.

The narrative goes into flashback: families, including his, wiped out. Josef weeps for a once proud nation systematically being ground into dust.
Josef, now hospitalised and back to reality, confides his secret to his young lady doctor. The police - nasty cop in particular- are anxious to close the case, but will the old man blow it wide open again? Forgiveness was never his forte.

Josef, presented by Theatre Alba/MPR and directed by Charles Nowosielski, sees excellent performances from it's cast of six, with Jeffrey Daunton impressive in the title role; likewise Anne Lannan as Mrs. J. ........

by Kerr McKinlay