The Escape Act: A Holocaust Memoir

The extraordinary life of Irene Danner is staged and celebrated in this moving, electric combination of theatre, circus and puppetry. Irene’s life between 1933 and 1945 unfurls as she witnesses the rise of the Third Reich, joins the circus undercover, falls in love and starts a family – all under the protection of the Althoff Circus. Slipping from past to present, from character to performer, The Escape Act combines Irene’s history with the lived experience of the performer, grandchild of Holocaust survivors. As the performer travels through Irene’s life, her own family history seeps through – the struggles, inherited traumas and their domino effect – until the looming past forces her to invite it in.