Mala and Edek: A Tale of Auschwitz

SMIRNOFF BABY BELLY (VENUE 88)

EACH Edinburgh Festival guarantees a number of productions about the Holocaust, but few manage to combine the gravity of their subject matter with such a dramatically appealing narrative as this snatched, doomed love story. The first in a projected trilogy by writer and director Mark O'Connor, Mala and Edek finds dignity in the Auschwitz few who retain the capacity to see themselves and others as "men and not things".

Chiefly, this remains in the seemingly impossible success of Mala Zimetbaum (Anna Fellingham) and Edek Galinski (Grant Harrison) in actually meeting, building a relationship, then escaping with their marriage plans, a dream unfortunately destined to break with their bodies. Yet their love and defiance were real and recreated here in witness testimony, compiled into the character of Jan (Neil Edeson), who shares Edek's cell and final moments after his recapture.

Initially wary of one another, the two develop a deep bond in the telling of the lovers' escape, Edek savouring the bittersweet memory of their tragic enterprise, Jan grasping at the hope it offered the camp and the expression of humanity so long obscured.

The drama concentrates on Edek and Jan's conversations, but in the flashbacks, the Pole and his Belgian girlfriend share anxious yet tender moments that are never mawkish or sentimental, always underscored by the bleakness and danger of their affair, yet beautiful in a way that O'Connor successfully renders without compromising realism.

• Until today, 1pm