Redemption is not saved up for eternity. It is the                  overcoming of death everyday in our lives that is the redeeming thing. D. Bonhoeffer

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  We must all decide what to do with the unfairness in our lives.

                                                                   Ann Ampthill

The Critics

Edinburgh Fringe Festival   … thought-provoking play, …tenderly acted and very moving, …their story unfolds beautifully… two sharp performances … the theological content is obviously important.

Leeds Jewish International Performing Arts Festival  When it come to classical drama, Belleherst Productions' Candles in the Window is a hit.

Süddeutche Zeitung    Bonhoeffer’s life as a moving Drama – Kathleen A. Thompson and Agnes von Below struggle on the stage with an ethical and existential problem... enough cannot be said about the fine ensemble work from both artists.

Badische Zeitung   One could hear a needle fall in the City House Neuenburg as one hundred and thirty viewers followed the acting and dialogue.

Märkische Allgemeine Zeitung   Yes! A voice for the voiceless.

 Candles in the Window     Written by Kathleen Ann Thompson                 
    Just hours before being hanged from a gallows in Flossenbürg extermination camp, German theologian, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, wrote his most eloquent words: “This is the end, but for me the beginning of life.”  These words have resonated for six decades in the hearts of those who have asked—in the face of true evil—How then shall we live?   Dietrich’s personal decisions and explorations of moral responsibility are still a felt influence. As a Lutheran pastor, Bonhoeffer’s controversial decision to take part in a plot to assassinate Hitler is still today a much debated subject.     

 CANDLES IN THE WINDOW is a fictional story based on the true association of a British Special Services officer who was with Dietrich during his last weeks of imprisonment in a Nazi concentration camp.  Ann Amptill (Kathleen Ann Thompson), wife of the British officer meets in a London train station with Monika Cramm (Agnes von Below), a Jewish housemaid who had worked for the Bonhoeffer family before the war.  Monika jealously guards a secret of betrayal as she prepares to return to Germany, while Ann, struggles to recover from her husband’s suicide. She searches for answers that might prevent her from taking her own life. The atmosphere sparks a violent struggle between them of grief, betrayal and guilt, but the two women’s lives are changed forever by their shared experiences with Dietrich Bonhoeffer.

Candles in the Window: Profiles

Kathleen Ann Thompson, Artistic Director of Belleherst Productions has produced at the La Jolla Museum for Contemporary Art, California; FETA,(International Street Theatre Festival) Poland, street theatre in Cherepovets, Russia and Indian Kathak dance/theatre at Mala Scene,  in Zagreb, Croatia. She is widely appreciated for her unique style and movement skills in bringing difficult subjects to the stage. As a Master teacher, her invitations have taken her to Panama, China, Bulgaria, Poland and Latvia. She is the author of several plays, as well as, the inspirational book, KEEPER OF THE GIFT.

Agnes von Below lives in Munich, Germany and has trained in Germany and Poland. She has directed youth theatre and toured with the Belleherst Ensemble for the past five years appearing in three major productions. Her training as a physio-therapist contributes to her skills in movement theatre. Miss Below is also bi-lingual and performs in both German and English.  She brings a great deal of understanding of the German culture to this performance

“Is death not God's will? Jesus went to the cross so death could forever serve life."

"To the neutrals, who would take refuge in the liturgy; I say, only those who cry out on behalf of the Jews have the right to legitimately sing Gregorian chants.”

"What we don't know, God will reveal to us in time. But this we know. That when Jesus came as 'man', he brought to the whole human race the dignity of God's image again. And an attack on even the least of men is an attack upon Him. And this we must not allow!”

“Jesus must be for today - the good and the bad. And we must put that in trust for our brother -- not despair.”

"The enemy had no power over Christ. It took a friend for that - a close friend to betray him. The most fearful thing of all happens not from outside, but from within."

“We must look for the most beautiful thing we can find today and rejoice fully in it, just as we look for and rejoice in the resurrected Christ in the cross.”

While all the powers of good aid and attend us                                                                                           Boldly we'll face the future, come what may.                                                                                                        At even and at morn God will befriend us,                                                                                                       And oh, most surely on each newborn day                                                       

“It isn't the art of dying, like Socrates boasted of, but the art of overcoming of death in our everyday life that is redeeming. Redemption is not just saved up for eternity, but an everyday event.”

“You must never doubt I'm traveling with gratitude and cheerfulness along the road I'm being led. I must only know I'm in the hands of God. Then I can accept all.”

"It is certain that our joy is hidden in suffering, and our life in death; and in all of this, we are in an encounter with the man, Jesus that sustains us. He has said, ‘yes’ and ‘Amen’ to all of it - blessing and suffering alike. And, it is on that ‘Amen’ that we firmly stand."

“This is the end, but for me the beginning of life

Booking information available by contacting:  info@belleherst.com

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Candles in the Window can be performed in English or in German.   For booking in Germany contact:

agnes.von.below@web.de