Trudy Zeller Lives Here

Both German, both in their eighties, they can agree that Waitrose is the only place to buy soft fruit, but not a lot else. When post-Brexit legislation threatens Hilde’s right to remain, and pushes Trudy’s daughter into seeking German citizenship, both are forced to face challenging truths about their pasts with customary irascibility.

Trudy is a Kindertransport survivor and retired psychoanalyst. Hilde is a retired concert pianist who survived the bombing of Cologne. Across the hallway of a north London apartment block an unlikely friendship grows between battles over communal carpets and loud music choices.

For their adult children, Tamara and Hans, maintaining the peace between their fractious mothers feels like a full-time job. It also offers a window into the secrets their mothers have struggled to share. Secrets that have afflicted them as much as their parents' generation.

Warm, funny and moving, Trudy Zeller Lives Here is a serious comedy about four people shaped by the same history in very different ways. It explores what we carry with us, what we choose to talk about and whether, after a lifetime of hurt, understanding and forgiveness are still possible.

Trudy Zeller Lives Here is the first new play to be nurtured into full production by JW3. It began its journey with a reading in 2024, and will now be realised by a creative team led by Director Joe Harmston.