The Passenger – Finborough Theatre, London

Writer: Nadya Mehuhin the novel by Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz

Director: Tim Supple

The Passenger is a terrific, terrifying piece of theatre, based on the 1938 novel by Ulrich Alexander Boschwitz. Written at breakneck speed in the immediate aftermath of Kristallnacht, Boschwitz conveys the intense fear of the monstrous violence that erupted against Jews. The brilliance of Nadya Mehuhin’s stage adaptation lies in its capturing the atmosphere at that precise moment. The audience knows what it is to come, but The Passenger gives a pungently visceral sense of the fearful uncertainty of the time, as Jewish businessman, Otto Silbermann, sees his whole life destroyed in a handful of days and goes on the run.

Mehuhin’s taut drama plunges us straight into the action as the increasingly desperate Otto takes one train after another, seeking elusive sanctuary. But he has no visa, so escape outside the borders is impossible. There are moments of bizarre comedy as on trains he meets various ordinary Germans, contentedly Heil-Hitlering one another. In one fantastic scene, a dictatorial husband insists Otto join him in a game of chess. This is one example of many of director Tim Supple’s breathtaking decisions as the two players bark out elliptical moves to one another.

Supple’s direction of the ensemble pieces is particularly notable. The five-strong cast become individual characters, glimpsed in brief scenes, then work as a taut ensemble. As anonymous figures, they lurk in shadows, moving silently among the audience, often in threateningly slow motion.

Robert Neumark Jones wonderfully conveys Otto’s transformation from successful middle-class businessman to ever-more desperate creature on the run, capturing not just his innate decency, but his mercurial changes of mood and his gathering sense of the absurdity of existence. Kelly Price plays both his Aryan wife, Elfriede, and stranger, Ursula, with elegance. Ben Fox, Eric MacLennan and Dan Milne each perform a marvellous range of characters, finding both comedy and menace in the people Otto encounters on his circular journeys. Particularly noteworthy is a scene in which all three play drunken soldiers, bawling out songs to the accompaniment of a banjo and spoons but who fall asleep as Otto insists on recounting stories from his time in the army in the First World War – for, of course, the irony is that Otto is a loyal German.

The production creates a horrifying sense of brooding unease through a near-perfect attention to lighting and sound. Lighting designer Mattis Larsen turns the Finborough’s ever-adaptable space into a kaleidoscope of claustrophobic scenes. Dim lights flicker sporadically, or plunge the protagonist into a hostile spotlight. Bright searchlights rake the audience when he tries to escape over the border. Meanwhile Joseph Alford’s thrillingly immersive sound design maintains the continuing horror of the situation.

The Passenger is a production not to be missed – thrillingly terrifying theatre.

Runs until 15 March 2025