LUCKY ONES, THE

by Eilenberg, Charlotte

It’s the 1960s in Hampstead, London. Bruno and Anna Mosenthal, Anna’s brother Leo and his wife Ottilie are awaiting the arrival of a potential buyer for their jointly-owned country cottage. Leo is keen to raise the asking price for the house bought through a gift for the siblings from their father, a Jewish button factory owner who lost out in Berlin before the war. But when the buyer, Lisa Pendry, turns out to be German too, Leo demands an apology for Nazi war crimes as well as money in return for the property.

At Leo’s funeral in the 1990s, Daniel, his son, attempts to confront the broken dreams of the previous generation of Jewish refugees. But in surviving the war, marrying a Lebanese wife and denying his roots, has Daniel managed to leave behind the legacy of anger and sense of victimisation that haunted his father?

Winner of the 2003 Lawrence Olivier and Critics Cricle Awards for Most Promising Playwright.