About the Play:

The Children's Republic is a full-length drama by Hannah Moscovitch. It's the Second World War and children in the Warsaw ghetto struggling to survive the horrors of starvation and war have been taken in by a heroic doctor running an orphanage. The Children's Republic is a powerful and true story of beauty and heroism in a world devoid of freedom and the necessities of life.

The Children's Republic is based on the true and inspirational tale of Holocaust hero Dr. Janusz Korczak, famed educator and signatory to the League of Nations' Declaration of the Rights of the Child. The pediatrician and children's rights advocate struggles to protect orphaned and abandoned children in a Jewish orphanage in Poland before and during the Second World War. There is not enough food or pairs of eyes to keep watch over them. Between a troublemaking thief, an abandoned girl, a malnourished boy, and a violin prodigy, Janusz has his hands full, but together they fight for beauty and hope in a world crumbling around them. But the Doctor meets his match in a defiant boy named Israel. When the Second World War threatens the survival of the children in the orphanage, it is Israel who discovers a means of survival. In the face of looming catastrophe, the teacher becomes the student, and the student gives the greatest gift of all: courage over despair. The Children's Republic is a reminder of the hope that can still be found in a world devoid of freedom and the necessities of life.

The Children's Republic premiered in 2012 at Tarragon Theatre in Toronto. This revised version premiered in 2017 at the Belfry Theatre in Victoria.

Cast: 3 female, 3 male (1 female adult, 1 male adult, 2 female children, 2 male children)

What people say:

"Hannah Moscovitch has found a fresh window into one of the most extensively documented horrors of the Second World War." — The Globe and Mail

"Why we go to theatre in the first place…Good theatre is always transformative and it teaches you and entertains you and leaves you, with perhaps, a new emotional experience." — CBC Radio

"Hannah Moscovitch's retooled version of her Second World War drama The Children's Republic has acquired newfound relevance." — Times Colonist

"If this all sounds depressing, be aware that there is humour in the dialogue from time to time, which saves The Children's Republic from being totally dark…If you are looking for light and fluffy entertainment, this is definitely not it. But if you want a piece of theatre that will challenge you and make you ponder the strength of the human spirit in times of unspeakable horror, then do not hesitate to pick up the phone and reserve your seats." — Monday Magazine

About the Playwright:

Hannah Moscovitch is an acclaimed Canadian playwright and TV writer. Her plays have been widely produced across Canada, as well as in the United States, Britain, Europe, Australia and Japan. She has been honoured with numerous awards, including the Governor General's Literary Award for drama (Canadian equivalent of the Pulitzer Prize), and the prestigious Windham Campbell Literary Prize administered by Yale University (she is the first Canadian playwright to win the prize). She's twice been a finalist for the Governor General's Award, and twice for the Siminovitch Prize, as well as the prestigious Susan Smith Blackburn Prize honouring the best English-language women writers worldwide.