Hitler's Tasters

Based on true events, a group of conscripted young women put their lives on the line three times a day, every day, for Adolf Hitler. A dark comedy that explores the way girls navigate sexuality, friendship and patriotism during the Third Reich, it also considers how power can corrupt, leaving children in the firing line.

An anachronistic retelling of a historical footnote, Hitler’s Tasters is about what girls discuss, even as they wait to see if they will survive another meal. They gossip and dream, they question and dance; they want to love, laugh, and above all, they want to survive. A coming-of-age story about being girls as the world begins to consider them women, it is also a story of complacency, acquiescence and the banality of evil and its insipience.

The story begs the question, why did Hitler use young German women? When a dictator runs out of people to hate and starts turning on his own, Hitler’s Tasters explores the women who were the crowning glory and future of the Reich and how they came to be placed directly between authority and danger.

Director Sarah Norris comments, Not only does Hitler’s Tasters break many “traditional” playwriting rules, it challenges the audience to fall in love with four young girls enchanted by arguably one of the most despicable leaders in history. Part of the genius of Michelle’s play is in the anachronisms, blending elements of today’s world in a story set against the backdrop of the 1940s. There is no hiding from the fact that history repeats itself. Our girls are holding phones, taking selfies, dancing to Madonna. We recognise these girls from our own lives, struggling to make sense of the world, and regurgitating ideas without understanding them. In no way is the breaking of rules meant to isolate, but rather, the artistic liberties taken are meant to humanise a time and place that seems so long ago, yet are incredibly urgent and of the moment.