LIBBY

SKALA

Performer Writer

THE SCOTSMAN

AUGUST 3, 2001

Lilia! by Libby Skala

Rating:    

This is a unique and often spellbinding production. Even, if you have never heard of Lilia Skala, you need not worry, you'll know her well at the end of this riveting play. The story sweeps across the dramatic events which shaped Lilia Skala's life, and uses the intimate conversations between grandmother and granddaughter to reveal how experience forges the mind. Lilia Skala, an accomplished actress, was forced to flee Austria under Nazi rule. She arrived in the US with no spoken English and re-established her career, culminating in Oscar recognition, despite years as an impoverished factory worker.

The play is remarkable because it is unthinkable that any other actor could play the role. The happy coincidence of an uncannily accurate impersonation, and the unsentimental eyewitness accuracy of the playwright/actress, have created a play of tremendous candour which is at once appealing and a privilege to view. Libby Skala flits between a range of characters with rock-solid technique and we are somehow better off for the intense focus of this single player, rather than an ensemble cast. The interplay of characters is often painful and intimate. Somehow, I feel grateful for the experience and not a little inclined to marvel at the diminutive lead's exhausting concentration.

Jonathan Wilson

Friday, 3rd August 2001

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