EXPECTING a rather stuffy exploration of a little-known aspect of the build-up to the Second World War - the title refers to the transportation of Jewish German children to England before the outbreak - I was pleasantly surprised by The Nonentities' latest production.

The resident group at The Rose managed to successfully pull off a play spanning about 50 years and two different countries in the confines of their intimate studio, thanks to imaginative direction and use of lighting and sound.

The past and the present are not separate, as the production so admirably conveys, but inextricably linked - the action takes place in a London attic room in the early 80s, with the events of half a century before unfolding alongside.

Hazel Poole, who plays Lil, Eva/Evelyn's adoptive English mother, features in both sets of events and duly has some very interesting and sudden shifts backwards and forwards in time.

There are no weak performances in this memorable study of mother/daughter relationships, but Sandra Tudor steals the show as the grown-up evacuee with a believable turn that could easily have deteriorated into cliche and hysteria in the hands of a weaker actress, while Becky Dicken is convincingly childlike in her portrayal of her younger incarnation.

The "talk-backs" after tonight and tomorrow's shows should be fascinating. AMD