As the scenes shift, Beth takes on the role of her grandmother at various points in her life, seamlessly morphing into character to give the stories vibrancy. “I said my Nanna was a bitch and I stand by that,” she says. “I didn’t get her vivaciousness … I got the bitter [side].” She starts throwing the books and boxes around in a physical representation of what her mother called Niusia’s “black rage”. How did get it so severe? We learn that Niusia was studying medicine by correspondence from Italy, as she wasn’t allowed to learn in her native Poland, when she was interned at Auschwitz. Because of her education, she was set to work in the camp hospital. This meant that she was able to smuggle out medication to help fellow inmates, but she was also forced to assist Josef Mengele, the ‘Angel of Death’. She cared for the Jews he ran cruel and heinous experiments on.
Niusia survived the war, but the traumas survived her. “The concentration camp made her very angry at God and Judaism,” says Beth, and the culture and traditions didn’t pass down through the family. In doing this play, she describes the imposter syndrome she felt in attempting to reconnect with her Jewish heritage. “I read book after book,” she explains, trying to discover her own Jewish history. The closest she’d been to Judaism previously, was asking her mum to write notes to her anglican school so she could get out of the weekly church service. Quick lines of humour like this are interwoven throughout the show. “It’s ok to laugh,” Beth says after relaying a joke her cousin made about arses shvitzing. It offers a welcome chink of light relief to an overall dark topic. For NIUSIA isn’t simply a show about a Nanna. It’s part history lesson, part deep-dive into a fascinating family story of survival, and it’s all told with heart, playfulness and sensitivity.
By Danielle Goldstein
NIUSIA runs until Monday 25 August. 1.20pm. £17, £14.50 concs. Former Womens Locker Room @ Summerhall, EH9 1PL. edfringe.com/tickets/whats-on/niusia
