The Hiding Place

Saltmine Theatre Company at The Playhouse, Norwich

Review published in the Eastern Daily Press, 18 May 2005

The Hiding Place

Real-life events can sometimes be difficult to work in a theatrical context. Truth is often the first casualty.

But in this perfomance of the Ten Boom family’s heroic hiding of Jews in their clock shop during the Nazi occupation of Holland, truth shines out alongside passion, Christian compassion, love and family values.

Making a welcome return to the city, Saltmine brought their much-acclaimed show, The Hiding Place, out of the lifestory of Corrie Ten Boom and on to the Playhouse stage in an engaging and totally inspirational evening.

Inevitably inviting some comparison with the Diary of Anne Frank and Schindler’s List, this went further.

It’s timely on the 60th anniversary of war’s end to consider how forgiveness can set people free, but this play is layered with a praising of God in all circumstances, however brutal. So the story is familiar but it is courage that sticks in the mind. It’s mercy that spans the years.

This was ‘evil’s hour’ yet the humour of family and character were caught aptly. Bible lessons were paralleled in real-life struggles.

She was helped in her suffering by her unshakeable faith. To be able to embrace a former guard from a concentration camp at the finale and say: “I forgive you with all my heart”, was truly moving.