In this very hard-hitting two-hander, James Hyland and Ashton Spear respectively give and receive the barbarous attentions of Rudolf Höss, Commandant of the Nazi concentration camp known as Auschwitz, to a hapless Jew called Abraham Könisberg.

In the simplest of productions with almost no set - little more than two actors in costumes - the sheer visceral hatred of the SS towards their fellow human beings is displayed with frightening clarity.

The audience are addressed as putative SS personnel assembled in a secret meeting in order to introduce a new method for exterminating Europe's Jews: Zyklon B. That gas was the trade name of a pesticide invented in Germany in the early 1920s. It was 'conveniently packaged' as a crystallised form of hydrogen cyanide, ultimately used during the Holocaust to murder approximately 1.1 million people in gas chambers - many of those at Auschwitz.

Every soldier at the meeting in attendance was sworn to secrecy, and no one questioned the use of Zyklon B for fear of breaking the SS codes of absolute loyalty to their race, the National Socialist Party, and to their country. In modern parlance, they were expected to show total obedience to their leader and to 'make Germany great again'. And that's where this cautionary tale has such strikingly current resonances.

A Lesson From Auschwitz is a master class in the power of small theatrical productions. But more than that, it is a powerful reminder of the phrase 'we must never forget'. We must never forget the hideous sins of the past and, in doing so, guard against repeating those sins in the future.



James Hyland is the writer, director and producer of the piece. He plays Commandant Höss with sadistic ferocity. Ashton Spear captures the plight of the terrified Jew humiliated and brutalised simply because of his race.

Written, Produced and Directed by James Hyland at Skipton Town Hall.
Performed by Ashton Spear and James Hyland
Music by Chris Warner