Tom Dugan's one-man play Wiesenthal, about the Holocaust survivor who spent forty years hunting Nazi war criminals, plays Wilton's Music Hall from 1-5 September after a month at the Edinburgh Fringe.
Wiesenthal comes into Wilton's Music Hall for a strictly limited run of five performances, 1-5 September, following a month at the Gilded Balloon Teviot at this year's Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Tom Dugan's one-man play is drawn from the life of Simon Wiesenthal, who survived the Holocaust and then spent the rest of his life tracing Nazi war criminals and pressing for their prosecution. It takes place on his last working day in his Vienna office in 2003, and sets his heroism alongside the ordinariness of the man himself.
Christopher C. Gibbs performs, Mark Liebert directs and Josh Liebert designs the sound. It is presented by NJNG Productions and Seabright Live, with Nancy Nagel Gibbs producing and Seabright Live as general manager. The running time is 70 minutes.
Christopher C. Gibbs said: "Every time I do this show, every time I say these words, either in rehearsal or performance, I am struck by the way they resonate with me and the world I find myself in today. It has been a privilege and a pleasure to work on Tom Dugan's powerful and moving play."
Mark Liebert said: "WIESENTHAL has, unfortunately, become more important and more and more relevant. There has been an escalation world wide of hate and intolerance empowered by governments. In an effort to be part of the necessary education that will increase awareness and ensure that what happened then will never happen again we have produced WIESENTHAL."
The production is a returning one rather than a new one, and that history is worth setting out. It gave its UK premiere at the Edinburgh Fringe in 2023, sold out, and transferred to the King's Head Theatre in London; it has since played the Adelaide Fringe. Dugan writes almost exclusively in this form, with one-person plays about Jackie Kennedy, Robert E. Lee, Mary Lincoln and Frederick Douglass to his name, and Wiesenthal is the most widely produced of them. The New York Times called the Off-Broadway production "heartbreaking and beautiful".
The 2023 Fringe run drew five-star reviews from The Scotsman, which found the play "impeccably conceived", and from Broadway Baby and British Theatre Guide. This year's Edinburgh notices have added further five- and four-star reviews, among them The Herald.
Wilton's is the last surviving grand music hall in the world, and its unrestored auditorium off Cable Street suits a play built for one performer and very little else. The five London dates are among a number of Fringe productions booking into London venues over the autumn. Tickets are on sale through the Wilton's Music Hall box office.
