NEWS

A play tells the true story of the relationship between a father and son set against the backdrop of the holocaust.

Report Nicole Triantafillou

When North Bondi playwright Tony Laumberg sat down to write his play, The Lucky One, it was the beginning of an intense personal journey.

The play revolves around the story of his father, Max Laumberg, a doctor during the German occupation of poland, and it traces his escape from the Warsaw Ghetto.

It also explores the sometimes difficult relationship between fathers and sons.
Laumberg said it wasn't until he interviewed his father about his wartime past that he began to confront the strains in their relationship.

" I didn't know anything about how my father came through the war and he didn't want to talk about it until I was in my mid-30's and going through a crisis in my own life." Laumberg said.

"In the play the son is at odds with his father and doesn't have a great deal of respect for him.

But after learning his father's story he gets the courage to deal with his own crisis and becomes closer to him.

Laumberg discovered that after his father escaped from the ghetto he was captured by the Gestapo and had to fake his identity.
Even after intense interrogations, his father maintained a calm resolve and assumed another name, sparing himself certain death.

It was an act of bravery that the younger Laumberg believes was uncharacteristic of the father he thought he knew so well.

"I found out my father wasn't the man I thought he was, and it made me reflect on my own life," he said.

"I took my father for granted and thought he had nothing to contribute to my life. It's something a lot of children do - they don't have time for their parents."

The Lucky One is on at the Parade Studio, NIDA, Anzac Parade, Kensington, until March 28. Tickets $33.

Wednesday 17 march 2004

The Sydney Morning Herald

Wednesday 17 March 2004