Image for Confessions of a Butterfly, source: polishculture.org.uk
Holocaust scholar Jonathan Salt delivers a new one-man theatre piece in homage to the life and work of the legendary pedagogue and writer Janusz Korczak
Jonathan, 48, a St Ives town councillor, said: "It is the biggest thing I have ever done. It is very daunting from the technical point of view because I will be on stage for an hour and a half and because it is a true story it is very important to get it right, which is also daunting."
The first book that Korczak wrote was about his early childhood, and this was entitled Confessions of a Butterfly. Using his original writings, Jonathan Salt has interwoven thought and conversation as the audience take on the role of the children.
It is August 1942 and the play begins immediately after Janusz Korczak, the staff and the 200 children have been 'evacuated' by the SS from their home in the notorious Warsaw Ghetto. On this day some 4000 children were taken along with about 2000 adults as the Nazis liquidated the smaller part of the Ghetto. We are then taken back some 12 hours.
On the night before he is taken to his death in the extermination camp of Treblinka, we find Janusz Korczak in his room at the top of the orphanage mulling over his life. As he reflects and tries to put his thoughts in some kind of order, he is constantly interrupted by the children. How can he prepare them and how can he prepare himself for the inevitable. Jonathan Salt comments: "Nobody knows exactly what Korczak said or did because everyone who was there was killed and I have had to try to write that. You want to get the portrayal right and you want to do this incredible person justice."
Jonathan, who leads educational Holocaust trips, said the play was about the character of Korczak and not the Holocaust and it contained humour as well as the grim reality of the situation.
The writing of this solo performance can be traced back to the staging of An Evening with Dr Korczak which was held at the Jewish Museum in Camden in conjunction with the exhibition Korczak in 2008.
Confessions of a Butterfly is scheduled for preview showings at the Key Theatre, Peterborough, from August 16-18, ahead of a run at the Lion and Unicorn in London from September 10-29.
Janusz Korczak (1879-1942) created a progressive utopian home for the children in his care. His work became the basis for the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. He was a Polish Jewish physician, writer and educator, and a man who took his convictions and sense of responsibility so strongly, he was prepared to go to his death rather than betray them. He was the director of two orphanages - one for Catholic children and one for Jewish children - where he promoted progressive educational techniques, including real opportunities for the children to take part in decision making. He had brought up thousands of Jewish and Catholic children refused to desert them, so that even as they died they would be able to maintain their trust in him and their faith in human goodness. His insights into children were unclouded by sentimentality, but were based on continuous clinical observation and meticulous listing of data. He was endowed with an uncanny empathy for children and a deep concern for their rights. In 2012, 70 years after the death of Janusz Korczak, numerous events celebrate the work and legacy of this great man as part of the 2012 Year of Janusz Korczak.
"Children are not the people of tomorrow, but people today. They are entitled to be taken seriously. They have a right to be treated by adults with tenderness and respect, as equals. They should be allowed to grow into whoever they were meant to be – the unknown person inside each of them is the hope for the future"
Janusz Korczak
(Previews) 16-18 August, 7.45pm
The Key Theatre,
Embankment Road
Peterborough PE1 1EF
10-29 September (Thursdays - Saturdays),
Lion and Unicorn Theatre
Kentish Town
London NW5 2ED
Tickets - £15 (Concessions £12)
Available from www.ticketweb.co.uk
Box office – 08444 771000
Editor: SRS
Source: www.cambridge-news.co.uk, www.polishculture.org.uk