Bunker Girls

Michael Punter
Raiser Theatre
theSpace @ Surgeons Hall

Bunker Girls

Raiser Theatre’s Bunker Girls is set in Hitler’s bunker in 1945. Two young secretaries, Ilse (Ruth Louis) and Gretel (Amy Walpole), celebrate the Führer’s birthday whilst the advancing Russian army nears Berlin and the sound of guns becomes louder and louder.

Their job is to record what is happening for posterity at 60 words per minute but they are also conscious of the need to survive as they discuss the politics and the dangerous situation they find themselves in.

They contemplate leaving their posts and even suicide amidst a backdrop of who will the Führer take for his wife and will it be Eva Braun?

There is also much light-hearted conversation about cake and Hitler’s dog that brings some relief from the thought of the advancing Allied forces.

When Hitler takes his own life, the girls have to make a decision of what to do. Much tension is created between them: Gretel wants to go and find her mother and Ilse wants to remain faithful to the Third Reich.

This is a fascinating insight into the last days of life in the bunker performed by two skilled actors and is astutely directed by Guy Woolf.

Reviewer: Robin Strapp

*Some links, including Amazon, Stageplays.com, Bookshop.org, Waterstones, ATG Tickets, LOVEtheatre, BTG Tickets, Ticketmaster, LW Theatres and QuayTickets, are affiliate links for which BTG may earn a small fee at no extra cost to the purchaser.

Are you sure?