THE WHITE CROW To 23 May.
York.
THE WHITE CROW
by Donald Freed.
Theatre Royal Studio To 23 May 2009.
Tue-Say 7.45pm Mat 16 May 3pm.
Runs 2hr 35min One interval.
TICKETS: 01904 623568.
www.yorktheatreroyal.co.uk
Review: Timothy Ramsden 9 May.
Heated exchanges in a glass cage.
During the post-war years the Israelis, with great thoroughness, searched out and extracted Nazis hiding in South America. They found Adolf Eichmann, director of the programme to exterminate Jews, in Argentina. Eichmann was hanged in Israel in 1962 after a lengthy trial, during which he appeared in a bullet-proof glass cage. Justice was not going to be undermined by solo revenge.
Donald Freed’s drama shows Eichmann in the early stage of interrogation after his arrival in Israel. The trial’s prefigured by the glass box of Lydia Denno’s set. Through the first act it remains closed, Eichmann and his Israeli interrogator locked inside, the audience only hearing what’s recorded on tape. After the interval, the walls have vanished, and the audience is brought closer to the characters’ world.
Rob Pickavance is a powerful Eichmann, stooping necessarily to hold his trousers (no belt – suicide wasn’t going to rob the state of justice either) but strong-voiced and arrogant, from pre-emptive mockery of the Master Race to assuming the role of host in offering Sonia Petrovna’s Dr Baum a drink.
Arrogance runs through his arguments, though it’s rarely clear whether he’s trying it on or believes in each strategy – he was a friend to the Jews, obeying orders (of course), thought only of resettling them in Madagascar or elsewhere. Only later does the visceral hatred rasp out.
Petrovna has a harder job in her less-defined role. He repeatedly asks who Dr Baum is and we’re never sure – only that she’s on first-name terms with Israel’s Prime Minister. But the two people here can’t even agree on pronouncing the prisoner's name, Baum’s “Eishmann” contrasting his “Eikmann”.
Director Damian Cruden maintains the temperature while paying attention to physical details. The complexity of Eichmann’s mind is suggested by subliminal sounds from Nazi Germany apparently running through his head.
Yet the play’s limited by its emotional heat, which hides the pattern of detail. The best two-person dramatic dissection of Nazi guilt and moral chaos remains In Quest of Conscience, Robert David MacDonald’s 1994 version of Gitta Sereny’s interviews with Treblinka death-camp commander Franz Stangl. It richly deserves revival.
Eichmann: Robert Pickavance.
Dr Baum: Sonia Petrovna.
Direcxtor: Damian Cruden.
Designer: Lydia Denno.
Lighting: Christopher Randall.
Sound/Composer: Craig Vear.
Video: Chris Spence.
Voice coach: Susan Stern.
2009-05-13 01:15:42