Shelter

Synopsis

Occupied Europe. 1945. As a battle rages outside, three strangers take refuge in a shelter on a windswept, stormy night. All three have lost their way, and fear for their lives. As they begin to talk, laugh and smile at the good fortune of finding each other and the relative safety of the shelter, a new danger emerges. For these three strangers are an allied pilot, a German soldier and a young Jewish woman wearing what appear to be striped linen pyjamas. A story of conflict and resolution, hatred and alliance, duty and responsibility, Shelter explores the morality of choice and the search for common ground in a climate of hatred and fear...

Our Review:

Simon Cole - 17 November 2010

The Nuffield Theatre’s associate director Russ Tunney has written and directs Shelter currently playing in the venue’s studio. It is a drama set in the dying days of World War II, and concentrates on three strangers who, as battle rages around them, take refuge in a shelter. All three have lost their way, and are in fear for their lives.

As they begin to relax and talk in the relative safety of the shelter, a new danger emerges as their identities become apparent – an Allied pilot, a German soldier and a young Jewish woman. Feelings of conflict, resolution, hatred, alliance, duty and responsibility follow.

The three-strong cast (Jonathan Eio, Stacey Evans and Thomas Brownlee work well together and are on stage throughout, with a palpable sense of tension rising throughout the piece. Tunney’s direction is tight, on an evocatively claustrophobic and dimly-lit set (designed by Michaela Kemp) and in the confines of the Nuffield Studio....

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