Alan Hopgood as Rumkowski.|
Alan Hopgood as Rumkowski. |
Steven Spielberg uses the big screen to bring the Holocaust to the world. Alan Hopgood uses the imagination of the audience.
The Emperor of the Ghetto is a one-man play, written by Avraham Cykiert,
a survivor of the Lodz Ghetto, in which Hopgood,
as Mordechai Chaim Rumkowski, tells his story of being arbitrarily selected by the Nazis to run the Ghetto from 1939 to 1944.
He was a Jew. Schindler was a German. They both used unorthodox methods to save Jews but Rumkowski, controversially, had to
oversee the death of many fellow Jews in order to try and save the few who ultimately survived to tell the story - among them
Cykiert, the playwright.
This play has toured Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania, with Alan giving a total of 150 performances, most importantly 80
of them in schools. People have been amazed at the ability of Hopgood, neither Polish nor Jewish, to recreate a man, who for
some will always remain a 'monster', for others, a 'saviour'.
But whatever one's belief, Hopgood's performance is riveting and the pictures conjured up by one man, standing on a stage, with
only three pieces of furniture, has been called by many the most powerful piece of theatre they have ever seen. He won the
Best
Actor at the Adelaide Fringe Festival in 1994.
The Emperor of the Ghetto is a gripping drama....I commend it as a major contribution.
-
I. Liebler AO CBE Co-chairman, Governing Board World Jewish Congress
The Emperor of the Ghetto is a must for students who are studying the Jewish Holocaust of WW2
-
Victor Ryan year 11 Mazenod College (Catholic)
This a grisly satisfying piece of theatre made the more memorable by Hopgood's flawless performance.
-
Jason Romney (Herald Sun)
So persuasive is Hopgood's acting that when Rumkowski goes off at the end to confront his own destiny, we almost feel sorry
for this bent and sorry figure of a man. A monster, maybe, but a flawed and feeling human being also.
-
Leonard Radic (The Age)
OPTIONS FOR PRESENTATION:
A. Play
80 mins with interval or one hour without.
Most venues are suitable, as the play features minimalist staging.
B. School Performances with Discussion
The play is important for students studying the Holocaust.
One hour duration followed by discussion with the students.
C. Video
A one-hour video of the stage play is available through Bay Street.
For more information, please email: alanhopgood@hotmail.com