The performances are extraordinary. A three-hander where two of the actors play at least 10 characters each (we had lost track by the interval) while one plays a single character who changes — or does he simply become more of who he was to begin with?
C. P. Taylor’s 1982 play presents the story of John Halder (David Tennant), a German professor whose ideas about sociology and psychology are picked up by the Nazis and used to justify all manner of heinous acts. The play doesn’t let Halder off the hook, depicting how he abandons his (Jewish) best friend, mentally ill mother, wife and children, as he is slowly taken into the Nazi machine. A machine which “values” his ideas and makes him feel a part of something, appealing to what has been missing throughout his life on the edges. Tennant’s performance is incredible and nuanced - his simplicity underscores the apparent normalcy of these early connections with the National Socialist party, and helps the audience see a man who lies to himself about what is going on around him to justify personal gains.
What is perhaps frustrating about the play in 2022, however, is that although it doesn’t let Halder get off without our judgement, it also didn’t seem to condemn him clearly either. The symbolism in Dominic Cooke’s direction was beautiful - a cell like room where fire comes through opening doors, books are burned, and ultimately Jewish prisoners playing their instruments as he enters a concentration camp to survey his work.
However, this felt too easy - the same way we have seen these images over and over again, to the point where I wonder whether we are de-sensitized as a society. We continue to see individuals - similarly “lonely” and “misunderstood” young white men are taken into belief systems every day, and increasingly in society we see these men acting out with violence against oppressed groups who are only just beginning to see equality. What could (or should?) this production look like in the time of incels and Qanon? And why isn’t that the production we got?
Again, this isn’t to say that the production wasn’t good - the performances were exceptional, the set symbolic and effective; and yet, it lacked a messiness and left me thinking about how much more impact this script, with this star, could have had today.