An academic-style presentation of the little known story behind some of the world’s most infamous photographs
The American developmental theatre company known for their groundbreaking verbatim plays, Tectonic Theatre Project’s Here There Are Blueberries has landed in London. Creators of the Laramie Project, one of the most frequently produced plays in America, Tectonic Theatre Project are masters of the art of non-fiction theatre.
In this Pulitzer-nominated play by co-creators Moisés Kaufman and Amanda Gronich, we are told the story of a photo album of Auschwitz, which gained international notoriety as all of the photos took place outside the camp walls. Capturing camp staff smiling, laughing and holidaying, this album showcased the ‘other side’ of the atrocities, how German staff were able to live happily, singing folk songs and eating blueberries on the camp complex.
Shown in the Victorian-era theatre Stratford East, sightlines for this production are grim. Even in the middle of the stalls it’s impossible to see the whole stage, with audience members dancing from left to right of the person seated directly in front of them to keep eyes on the action.
Presented in a lecture-style format, the entire play takes place in a room of the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum. Despite some transformation of space into a courtroom, interrogation room and bar, it remains an emotionless and sterile set design by Ben Davies. The focus of the production is the photographs, which are presented in a huge variety of interesting ways, utilising every part of the stage space to highlight key features.
The ensemble is led by a detached Philippine Velge, who predominantly plays the youngest archivist of the museum. With extensive direct address and little dialogue between the actors, the company feels more like a group of professors addressing students than the cast of a play. Despite constantly stepping into new character’s shoes, there is no character transformation by any performer. Accents and demeanours remain the same and the production comes across more like a presentation of academic findings than a theatrical performance.
What saves these emotionless portrayals is the material itself. The photographs and the story they tell are absolutely fascinating, with the script drip-feeding just the right amount of information bit by bit, to keep the audience engaged. Constant reveals of who owned the album, who’s in it and what happened to them are slowly revealed, and the 90-minutes fly by.
This captivating way of storytelling is still so unique, with flawless use of tech as a support to an already deeply intriguing narrative. Here There Are Blueberries plays at Stratford East in London until March 7, 2026.