Imagine This the musical: tickets and show guide

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< Up	Life / Entertainment / Theatre / Imagine This
Guide to the London stage musical "Imagine This"


Sections:	Introduction
	Tickets
	Main characters
	Warsaw Ghetto
	Masada
	Suitability
	Further information
	Links

INTRODUCTION

This page is a brief guide to the stage musical Imagine This. It opened at the Theatre Royal Plymouth before transferring to the New London Theatre in London's West End in November 2008.

This show closed on 20 December 2008.

The action takes place inside a former train depot in the Warsaw ghetto in 1942. A Jewish theatrical family seeks refuge there and prepares to put on a play, hoping that the audience will use their imagination to forget the miserable conditions for a while. The story of Jewish resistance against the Romans at the desert fortress of Masada has parallels with their own desperate situation.

TICKETS

Imagine This was performed at the New London Theatre. The address is Drury Lane, London WC2B 5PW (nearest Tube: Covent Garden; map)

Performances start times are as follows (you should arrive at the theatre 30 minutes earlier):

Day	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri	Sat	Sun
Matinee	-	-	-	2:30	-	2:30	-
Evening	7:30	7:30	7:30	7:30	7:30	7:30	-

The running time (including the interval) is 2h30.

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MAIN CHARACTERS

The following are the main characters in the musical:

The Warshowsky family:
Daniel Warshowsky: Head of a Polish theatre company ; married to Hannah
Rebecca: Daniel's daughter ; Leon: Daniel's 10 year old son
Sarah: Daniel's sister ; Max: Sarah's husband
Adolph: Father of Daniel and Sarah

Other members of the theatrical company are:
Izzy: a comic from Berlin ; Otto: a German film actor ; Lola: a chorus girl ; Jan: the son of a Rabbi ; Jacob: a young Polish actor

Other main characters:
Adam: a young Polish resistance fighter
Captain Blick: the leader of a group of Nazi soldiers who patrol the ghetto

The main roles in Masada (the play performed within the ghetto) are as follows [the actors playing the roles are shown in brackets]:
Eleazar [Daniel]: the leader of a group of Jewish rebels
Tamar [Rebecca]: Eleazar's daughter
Aaron [Jan]: a Jewish rebel who is captured by the Romans
Silva [Adam]: Roman general
Caesar [Adolph]: Roman emperor
Pompey [Izzy]: a slave who hides his Christian beliefs
Rufus [Otto]: Caesar's tribune (representative) in Judaea

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WARSAW GHETTO

Although the characters in the musical are fictional, the situation is based on real events in Warsaw during the Second World War:

- On 1 September 1939 the Nazis begin their invasion of Poland, attacking both by air and land. German soldiers enter Warsaw before the end of September.
- The Jewish population (nearly a third of the city's inhabitants) are forced to identify themselves by wearing white armbands with a blue Star of David. Their schools are closed, businesses and property are seized, and men are made to do forced labour.
- In October/November 1940 the Jewish population are forced to move into a ghetto - a small area of the city surrounded by a high wall. Other Poles are told that the Jews have the disease typhoid.
- Jews, and later Roma people as well, are forced into the ghetto from neighbouring areas. The population rises to 400,000. Many die from disease and starvation.
- In April 1942 German soldiers enter the ghetto, capture about 60 men, and shoot them in the streets.
- From the summer of 1942 people start to be deported in railway trucks to Treblinka, about 50 miles to the east of Warsaw. This was a death camp.
- In April 1943 there was an uprising by the remaining inhabitants of the ghetto (less than 50,000 by this time). This act of resistance was crushed the following month and the ghetto was destroyed.
- Only about 20,000 Jews from Warsaw survived, by hiding outside of the ghetto.

Notes from the Warsaw Ghetto (book)
Author: Emmanuel Ringelblum
Publisher: ibooks
Date: March 2006

MASADA

According to Hebrew legend, in about 70AD about 1000 Jews who were rebelling against Roman rule escaped from Jerusalem and crossed the desert to an old mountain fortress called Masada. They managed to withstand attack from a much larger Roman army, but when it was clear that the fortress was going to be taken the Jews chose to kill themselves instead of allowing themselves to be captured and made into slaves. The story of Masada is said to have helped to inspire the Warsaw Ghetto uprising.

The Romans prepare to attack Masada

The Masada Myth (book)
Author: Nachman Ben-Yehuda
Publisher: University of Wisconsin Press
Date: February 1996

SUITABILITY

English: The story and language used is easy to follow.
Age: This musical is not suitable for young children, but teenagers and adults will appreciate it.
Mood: Although the subject of the Warsaw ghetto is sad and brutal, the story is uplifting and has comic moments
Music: You can listen to some of the music from the show by visiting the official website (see below)

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FURTHER INFORMATION

Official website for the musical: http://www.imaginethisthemusical.com
There is an educational pack for the show which will be helpful for teachers who wish to take students to see it: http://www.imaginethisthemusical.com/IT_EducationPack.pdf
New London Theatre website: http://www.reallyuseful.com/theatres/new-london-theatre

Task Force for International Cooperation on Holocaust Education, Remembrance and Research: http://www.holocausttaskforce.org

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LINKS

British theatre: Life/Entertainment/Theatre
Simcha in the Square (Jewish festival in London): Ideas/Album/Simcha
Sachsenhausen (German concentration camp): Travel/Tours/Berlin/Sachsenhausen

If you like Imagine This you may also be interested in these musicals:
Les Miserables: Life/Entertainment/Theatre/Les-Miserables
Blood Brothers: see Life/Entertainment/Theatre/Tickets

Home page: Home

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