I went to see The Pianist at The Royal Exchange Theatre in Manchester this week. The staged version tells the remarkable story of Wladyslaw Szpilman's survival during the Holocaust. It is a 2 man show; Peter Guiness relays the tremendous story of how the pianist, Spilman escaped the horrors of the concentration camps and hid in the ghettos, accompanied by Mikhail Rudy immaculate playing of Chopin. The tale unfolds when a German officer discovers Szpilman and helps him survive until Liberation.I found the use of the pianist throughout the story brilliant and significant. It is a truly unimaginable, remarkable story. I have previously seen Polanski's film and thought that the production enhanced the reality or it. After studying the Holocaust through a variety of different mediums, such as films, books and even a trip to Poland, I still found going to see this production a strong and meaningful experience.
The audience was something that I found very interesting. I was expecting a majority Jewish audience but to my surprise there was a large variety of people of all ages and from all religious backgrounds. This was something I found very comforting, to know that the rest of the world are still being educated on the horrors so that it can truly be Never Again!
