A TIME TO SPEAK

Helen Lewis, dancer and choreographer needs little introduction to Ulster audiences. After the publication of her memoir A Time to Speak, which has become a classic of Holocaust literature, she visited schools, clubs and organisations throughout the Province, sharing her remarkable story of courage and survival in the Nazi Concentration Camps.

Joan McCready and I enjoyed a close friendship with Helen, principally through the Lyric Theatre, where we worked together on many productions. With the publication of her memoir, she had a number of requests to adapt the book for the stage. She turned them down. One day I asked her if I might adapt the book. "Yes, on one condition." she said. "Joan McCready must play the part." With this award-winning production, which is being performed to mark the centenary of Helen's birth in Czechoslovakia, her wish has been realised.