The National Theatre’s Christmas family show this year is Carl Miller’s adaptation of Erich Kastner’s children’s classic, first published in 1929 when unemployment was high and times were hard in Germany. A poor country boy is robbed of all his money whilst travelling by train to Berlin to visit his grandmother. The street kids of the capital come to his rescue and help him to catch the thief. The story has often been filmed. The surprise is that it hasn’t been made into a musical. I will take on a bet that it will be soon.
Gerhard Lamprecht’s 1931 German film version, scripted by Billy Wilder and Emeric Presburger, was notable for its urban realism, the sheer number of kids, the surrealism during the train ride, and also a wonderful performance by the great German actor Fritz Rasp as the sinister-looking villain in the bowler hat and with a toothbrush moustache. A British film was made at the same time with the same script, replicating the German version, shot by shot. Watching the two films nowadays you realize the German boys will shortly become Hitler youths and end up fighting the British boys. Interestingly, after World War 2 was over, Lamprecht made a film, Somewhere in Berlin, about the German youths who had survived the war.
Bijan Sheibani’s production for the National keeps the cast, young and old, constantly on the move. There are three rotating casts of children, drawn from four local schools, 50 children in each team. Toby Murray (as Emil) headed the team I saw. The major success, however, is not the acting but the designs by Bunny Christie and the black and white expressionistic projections by 59 Projections. The chase scenes in the sewers, which are lit by hand held-torches and alternating with plunging darkness, are particularly impressive. Take the children.