NEWS: BLONDE POISON can once again be seen in both Berlin and Florida until 10th March!

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A stunning one-woman play with acclaimed reviews.
Blonde Poison is based on the true story of a Jewish woman during World War ll who betrayed up to 3,000 fellow Jews.
​Gail Louw’s powerful play examines the motivation of evil.
Highly Recommended at the Camden Fringe 2013.
Winner of  an Argus Angel Award for artistic
excellence at the Brighton Festival and Fringe 2012.
Check the review by the BBC's Judi Herman here and the reaction of
members of the audience at Harrow Arts Centre Studio here
Best of San Francisco Fringe 2016
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Gail Louw (Playwright) Dulcie Smart (Actress) and Keith Garsson (Director)

'Congratulations! What a thought provoking play and what a brilliant actress: every gesture, nuance, facial expression added value to the words and depth to the events described. It is so much more that just another ‘Holocaust play’, but rather a morality play that transcends its setting and makes us all think about victims of circumstance and what we might do under such pressure.  It really is a triumph.' Dr Sonya Baksi after seeing the performance in Lewes 11 January 2014

Stella Goldschlag was living illegally in war-torn Berlin when she herself was betrayed and tortured. When offered the chance of saving herself and her parents from the death camps, she agreed to be a ‘Greifer’ for the Gestapo and inform on Jews in hiding. She was extraordinarily successful in this and her activities increased after her parents had finally been deported.

The vast dimensions of Stella’s character range from tortured victim to cruel killer, from loving daughter to betrayer of friends, from gentle lover to depraved promiscuity. She was given the name ‘Blonde Poison’ by the Gestapo who revelled in her treachery. 

Decades after the war Stella agrees to be interviewed by a well-respected journalist – her last chance for redemption. Can she ever be released from her past?

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the actress
Elizabeth Counsell has played many classical roles in the theatre including Shaw's ST JOAN and LADY MACBETH (opposite Michael Gambon). She was Michael Redgrave's leading lady in SHAKESPEARE'S PEOPLE and played the name part in JEAN SEBERG a musical at the National Theatre. She has played in Chekov, Pinter, Mamet and Noel Coward.  

TV appearances include six series of BRUSH STROKES playing Veronica. She recently finished a film called SONG FOR MARION with Vanessa Redgrave and Terence Stamp, to be released in early 2013.

the director
Tony Milner has had a long career in the theatre as an actor, director and producer with the New Vic. He has produced numerous Number 1 tours as well as West End/Broadway shows. Recent work as a director has been with Gail Louw’s writing; KILLING FAITH, JOE HO HO and BLONDE POISON. 

"After seeing the performance at the St. James’s Theatre I am still searching for the words to tell you how much I admire this astonishing piece of theatre. Technically, a tour de force which skillfully, subtly without ever failing for a single second, allows the full dramatic impact of its shocking story to speak to us through the performance. Elizabeth Counsell is electrifying and wastes not one syllable of (this) masterpiece. I repeat, masterpiece.

The tragic conclusion couldn’t be more effective; a coup de theatre, a stark and savage act of self-condemnation, imposing a sentence that a 'merciful', more humane court did not, again so well plotted yet concealed until the last moment."
James Hogan, Publisher, Oberon Books


"You rarely get the opportunity to experience an evening in the theatre where every element of it could not be bettered: the writing, the directing, the performance, the atmosphere created… We sat riveted for the whole of the time."   more here
Virginia McKenna OBE


"Gail Louw has written, without doubt, one of the finest pieces of solo theatre ever to have been performed with her latest play, Blonde Poison."   more here
What’s On Stage 


"Without question, Blonde Poison is the best piece of theatre I have seen at the Fringe this year, and quite possibly one of the most earth-shatteringly good performances I have ever seen from any actress."        more here
Fringe Guru


"powerful and thought provoking . . . incredible and intense . . . deeply shocking . . . an unforgettable evening."
The Argus


"a remarkable performance . . . spell binding . . . holds the audience in thrall."
 The Eastbourne Herald


“this is a story that must be told . . . marvellously written and wonderfully performed.”
Sussex Jewish News

"so impressively unpathetic and at the same time breathtaking........"Blonde Poison" is a thoroughly contemporary tragedy........an astonishingly entertaining and in part witty and tongue-in-cheek piece.
Klunkerdesalltags.blog

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