THE STONE. To 28 February.

London.

THE STONE
by Marius von Mayenburg translated by Maja Zade.

Royal Court Theatre, (Jerwood Theatre Downstairs) To 28 February 2009.
Mon-Sat 7.30 Mat Sat 3.30.
Runs 1hr 10min No interval.

TICKETS 020 7565 5000.
www.royalcourttheatre.co.uk
Review: Carole 19 February.

Fascination in confusion.
Marius von Mayenburg’s previous British productions have left us in no doubt his is a singular new German voice. Fireface (also at the Royal Court) was an incendiary force of nature, The Ugly One, a quieter if no less radical attack on German obsession – if not the West’s generally - with appearance and over-conformity. Now comes The Stone, part of the Court’’s Off the Wall Spring series of plays about Germany.

That `about’ is no idle inclusion. The Stone (translated by regular von Mayenburg translator Maja Zade) is a self-conscious potted history `about’ Germany, pre-and-post-war. Such a description, however, hardly begins to describe the manner of its telling.

Von Mayenburg is a modernist and in his short 70 minutes jumps us backwards and forwards between the 1930s, ‘70s and 90s as if walking through walls of time. At least, that’s the impression Ramin Gray’s headlong production gives, speeding us through Johannes Schütz’s pale, abstract set as if pushing us through a Tate installation.

At once confusing and distancing, the theme of enforced exile, roots and hidden Nazi family secrets, is, however, far from that. Linda Bassett’s mentally confused grandmother, Witha, hides under a table hearing Allied bombs raining down on Dresden. Later, her daughter discovers a National Socialist Party badge belonging to her mother in Witha’s box of old love letters.

Then there is the stone – thrown at the house owned of a Jewish couple by Hitler youth. Forced out, their place is taken by Witha and her family. Ghosts from the past appear in the shape of Mieze, the house’s original Jewish owner and Stephanie, the East European who became the next occupant with the division of post-war Germany, when Witha had to move out. You get the picture.

Full circle if not exactly retribution comes with Witha and her family returning once more after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Stephanie in her turn having been made homeless.

All of which passes before us with moments of intense clarity and emotion only to be dashed by mystery piled on the unfathomable. We are left baffled if not bowed.

:
Hannah: Loo Brealey.
Heidrun: Helen Schlesinger.
With a: Linda Bassett.
Mieze: Justine Mitchell.
Stefanie: Amanda Drew.
Wolfgang: Jonathan Cullen.

Director: Ramin Gray.
Designer: Johannes Schütz.
Lighting: Matt Drury.
Sound: David McSeveney.
Assistant director: Lydia Ziemke.

The Stone was first produced at the Salzburger Festspiele in a co-production with Schaubühne am Lehniner Platz Berlin, directed by Ingo Berk, on July 31, 2008.

2009-02-26 22:54:56