Friday night, being the Jewish sabbath, may not have been the best evening to go to see Judenfrei, which is about Jews living in Berlin during World War Two, and that might have been the reason for the lack of attendance, but I am sure on other nights the small theatre has been packed to the rafters because this is a very compelling play about the plight of the Jews in Germany from 1938 to 1941 The play was inspired by the exhibition Lawyers without Rights and mirrors the story of two lawyers Dr Elisabeth Kohn and Wilhelm Dickmann. In real life these two people never met but writer Kate Glover has woven their two stories together to create her play and tell their story.

The play is set in Berlin in 1938. It focuses on Hanna Lowenfeld, a talented lawyer who is prevented from practising law (as nearly all Jewish lawyers were), and has to take menial jobs to provide for her mother and younger sister. She is dating Philipp Meir, a lawyer who, because he fought for Germany in World War One, is still allowed to carry on in his court case. They realise their lives are in danger and Philipp pleads with Hanna to flee Berlin and get out of Germany. Phillip manages to secure a ticket for Hanna to get out of Germany and go to relatives in Cuba, but Hanna doesn't know what to do - whether she should stay with her sister and mother or leave.

In hindsight, everyone in the audience knew what her decision should have been, but what we are witness to is seeing Hanna fighting with her dilemma - should she leave with just her mother as there are only two tickets or stay as a family together in Berlin.

While Hanna is going through her indecision, the rounding up of the Jews by the Gestapo is getting closer, Philipp is concerned about leaving his dying father who is being nursed by his sister.

What the play cleverly masters is the ability to express the basic problems people had - not leaving without every member of the family, packing law books in a suitcase, and leaving a dying father.

The acting takes place on a very sparse stage with just a few props to create a cafe and living room in an apartment, and some very disturbing sound affects of the Gestapo raiding the Jewish houses in Berlin.

The actors do not leave the stage when they are not in the scene but simply sit on the side and that give a sense of voyeurism.

Noa Bodner as Hanna and Anthony Wolfe as Philipp both give compelling performance, and the writer Kate Glover also takes on the role of Hanna's mother but, for me, it is Tim Thomas whose performance is the strongest.

It is a powerful play about a period of history that has been told many times before but this seems to touch a nerve on the total innocence of German Jews during that time.

New End Theatre, Hampstead on until January 30