Two cantankerous older men lock horns in A Bodin Saphir’s debut play, which shows history at its most contentious, emotive and vivid. Set in Denmark, ‘Rosenbaum’s Rescue’ explores the seemingly miraculous 1943 escape by boat of nearly all of the country’s 8,000 Jews, at the height of the Nazi occupation.
Or at least Abe (David Bamber), who’s celebrating Hanukkah with his long-suffering wife Sara (Julia Swift), is determined to believe it was a miracle. His childhood friend Lars (Neil McCaul) isn’t so sure. He’s a researcher, writing a book about the events of 1943. Cue much rehearsing and interrogating of the facts, prompted by Lars’s grown-up daughter Eva (Dorothea Myer-Bennett). The opening scenes are theatre as a revisionist history lesson. The set-piece discussions feel static and dogmatic, and are only broken up by Abe and Lars’s periodic outbreaks of pink-faced, toddler-esque fury: Sara is forever on hand to soothe bruised feelings by ushering the wounded party into the kitchen for some quiet time.
But if the first act is all about set-up, things really hot up in the second, which unearths a Sutton Hoo-worthy hoard of buried secrets. There’s contested paternity, government cover-ups, and even a very ill-timed coming out convo. Director Kate Fahy’s production builds in energy as Bodin Saphir’s play canters to a surprisingly ingenious climax.
The universally strong performances and unusual premise mean that, at its best, ‘Rosenbaum’s Rescue’ is a solidly enjoyable debut. What it lacks is subtlety. Big conversations are prompted by contrived devices, like pointing to a painting on the wall that happens to depict the time period being discussed. Quotes from philosophers are chucked into debates about faith. The gags are weak and tortuously set up.
Where this play surprises is in its ability to leave things unresolved, to let the true extent of Danish wartime heroism remain opaque. And in doing so, it shows the overly heavy weight we place on seductive myths of national identity, even as the values they showcase start to lose currency.