|
The Trial of Adolf Eichmann
Presented by: Eagle’s Nest Theatre
Venue: Studio One, Northcote Town Hall
Reviewer: Chris Baldock
Date Reviewed: Wednesday 28th October 2009
For those of you unfamiliar with Eagle’s Nest Theatre, they are a
fledgling independent theatre company (founded 2006) who bravely
produce two plays in repertory approximately three times a year. The
plays performed in tandem have a common theme uniting them. It’s a
courageous hook but one that seems to be working for them and one
that is actually quite clever as it probably gets a good percentage
of its audience paying to see both plays.
The theme for this current season is the Holocaust. Local playwright
Neil Cole’s The Trial of Adolf Eichmann is playing with
The Trial of God by Eli Wiesel. The Holocaust has a well-worn
theatrical path. There are obviously a lot of stories from one of
the blackest period in history with incredible stories of humanity
and the strength of the human spirit ripe for a powerful night in
the theatre. Couple this with cinematic masterpieces (Schindler’s
List, Judgement at Nuremburg, the Pianist, Life is Beautiful, The
Boy in Striped Pyjamas, The Reader, Sophie’s Choice to name a
few) and it may seem that the era’s stories have been exhausted. So
it takes a brave playwright to believe they can tell us something
new.
I’m sorry to say for this reviewer, Mr Cole hasn’t succeeded. This
production earns the dubious honour of being the first story about
the Holocaust that I was not moved by at all. The reasons are many
and I will try to explain.
First off, there’s the play itself. I found very little that was
theatrical about it. The dialogue (court scenes aside) was mostly
the characters speaking facts thus making a lot of it sound
incredibly unnatural and unrealistic. I understand the playwright
wanted us to know this information but it was unrelenting,
sacrificing character development resulting in this audience member
not caring for anyone. I wanted to feel the pain and fear that the
Jewish characters went through. It wasn’t enough just to know that
they suffered. I already knew that going in! I also wanted to catch
at least a glimpse of Eichmann’s psyche so that I could try
and understand why he would give the orders to send so many Jews to
their deaths. Giving me the facts wasn’t enough. The play needed
more heart. It needed more soul.
I am not aware of the history of this play but I felt it needed some
focus in terms of what it wanted to achieve. Maybe its intention was
to be a docu-drama. In that case, it achieved its aims slightly more
successfully. But even docu-dramas have the potential to be
incredibly powerful and moving. This production was missing too many
vital elements to make it so.
However, to be fair, the play was wrapped in a misguided production.
The direction was, quite frankly, boring and unimaginative as it
rendered the play tedious. Blocking seemed dictated by the very
limited lighting rig. As a result, court room scenes were static and
there was not enough contrast between various locales. The timing of
getting cast on and off was also problematic and clumsy. A case in
point – an actor would enter and come downstage centre to deliver
dialogue and the rest of the cast would either come on or go off 20
seconds later, making quite a bit of noise, pulling the focus and
making dialogue inaudible. This occurred on a couple of occasions. I
also lost some dialogue when dramatic music played as the levels
between speakers and the actor were not balanced. Strange things
like not having liquid of some kind for the cognac or the soup and
yet a character being offered real cigarettes flummoxed me. As did
the bizarre scene where two characters went to play the violin. The
actors froze each time, a light turned red and the sound played was
a violin backed by an orchestra. Maybe I missed some sort of
symbolism here but I didn’t understand. The ladies next to me were
stifling giggles when this occurred so I was reassured that it
wasn’t just me.
The set was very simple and fairly perfunctory with appropriate
furniture although I was bothered by the white chairs. I understand
that independent companies work on a shoe string budget. But that
shouldn’t compromise using some imagination, not to mention style,
when presenting an overall vision. Especially when you are charging
upward of $27 a ticket. Costuming however was very effective and
this may be where the budget was spent.
The cast overall, with the exception of Michael F Cahill, were
somewhat lackluster with a distinct lack of passion, realism, focus
or even good old theatricality in most of the performances. Not to
mention the fact that the majority of the cast played their role
with an off-putting broad Australian accent (Michael is English I
believe so had a more neutral tone to his voice which worked) with
the exception of Liran Shacher as Kitia who played hers with
a thick Polish accent which jarred against the others. It is
difficult watching and listening to a Nazi who sounds like they were
from Mudgee! Ross Williams who portrayed Eichmann played the
role on one level and really looked like he didn’t want to be there.
Some played it like they were doing film instead of theatre,
particularly the women. And the rest were I’m afraid to say,
ineffectual. Only Michael showed fire, attempting to find some depth
in his limitedly written roles and created a presence which drew you
to him. Many of the actors seemed hesitant and uncertain of some
dialogue and moves which made me wonder both how long the rehearsal
period was and what they did during them.
And I need to mention what was, in my mind, an extraordinary moment
that I still can’t believe the director allowed. At the end of Act
One, I sat there gob-smacked as the scene ended and the actors left
the stage in half light so they were clearly seen by the audience
and killed any atmosphere they tried to create. If that wasn’t bad
enough, the actor playing the SS Officer stayed onstage and
proceeded to tell us, out of character, that it was the end of Act
One and that there would be an interval, hence destroying any
illusion and drama that had just been attempted. People around me
shared my “what the?” expression. This strange moment proved to me
that some of the people involved did not seem to care to create any
sense of pathos or theatricality, thus shooting themselves in their
theatrical foot.
There were two other things I did like (“praise be” I hear you cry).
The original music composed by David Howell, although not always
used correctly, was still evocative in a few crucial scenes. And I
loved the glass eye story. A brief moment but it had a punch. It
showed just a glimmer of what the playwright could do if the piece
was worked on.
I make no apologies for not being kinder with this production but
the impression I got was that everyone involved was trying to tell a
very important story. Which they were. But it doesn’t necessarily
mean they were telling it right.
A director of over 40 productions and an actor in over 80, Chris is
a highly respected director/actor in the "straight" theatre scene
with 4 Victorian Drama League Awards, 2 Lyrebird awards and over 30
other theatre awards to his credit. His production of The Laramie
Project for Act-o-Matic 3000 at Chapel off Chapel won the Victorian
Green Room Award for Best Independent Production as well as making
many of the year's "Best" lists and earning a rare 5-star review in
The Sunday Age, and his production of Love! Valour! Compassion! for
the Midsumma Festival was named by the Herald Sun as one of the best
productions of the year. He has also received Music Theatre Guild
nominations for performance (The Duke in MUMCo's Big River) and
direction (the Victorian première of A Slice of Saturday Night at St
Martins). He has been an in-house adjudicator for many theatre
companies as well as the Victorian Drama League Awards and the
Victorian Music Theatre Guild Awards. He has recently directed
Cloudstreet for Heidelberg Theatre Company, The Elephant Man for
Malvern Theatre Company and Kindertransport for Williamstown Little
Theatre. By day Chris is a manager for a major Ombudsman's scheme.
|