Theatre and Dance Previews

If I were to give a general summary of what An English Tragedy was about, I would probably lose half of you before I had even finished my first sentence!

The story of an English Nazi propagandist who was charged with High Treason after the war may not be everybody's cup of tea, but this lovely piece of writing by the Oscar-winning Ronald Harwood, in the hands director Di Trevis at the Watford Palace, has resulted in an enthralling piece of drama - a fascinating story, well told with a tense and highly moving finale.

Harwood won an Oscar for his screenplay of The Pianist and has been nominated again for The Diving Bell and The Butterfly, but now the man who wrote The Dresser is back with a play and An English Tragedy premiered in Watford this week.

An English Tragedy (Photo: Manuel Harin)

Disorder

OK - here's the story bit! It tells of John Amery, the son of British Cabinet Minister Leo Amery, who ended up in Berlin during the war broadcasting to Britain and inciting its citizens to rise up against the Jews and Communists, who in the minds of the Nazis were the same thing.

The play tells the story from his capture to his trial and looks back at his upbringing and relationship with his father, mother and brother to try and come up with a reason for his behaviour. His parents of course are trying to build a case to save him and are going along the mental instability line. He clearly has some sort of disorder – or does he?

This play made me ask myself many questions. Why is it that just because someone behaves differently from “normal”, they are considered to have some sort of mental disorder. Maybe it is just bad behaviour, or maybe it is just “normal” and everyone else is wrong.

Amery says that he is a patriot not a traitor and it is clear that he had an utter conviction that what he was doing was right. Who has the right to say he was wrong, even though his actions and thoughts are abhorant and I winced everytime the character spat out another anti-semitic remark so easily and venomously.

An English Tragedy (Photo: Manuel Harin)

It's a true story so I won't be giving anything away when I say that he pleaded guilty to the charges, knowing what the only result could be. But what you won't find in the history books is Harwood's explanation as to why - although this has been derived and summised  from research too. This twist is at once sad and shocking - but plausible? Well - that's for discussion on the car in the way home, a mark of a good evening in my book!

Watchable

In the central role of John Amery is Richard Goulding, who left drama school early to take on the part of Konstantin in Trevor Nunn’s The Seagull and in this, only his second job, you can see that he is going from strength to strength.

The success of everything else depends on him and he doesn’t disappoint. It is a wonderful performance as a man on the edge appearing somewhat unhinged. He veers seamlessly between charm, wit and cockiness to childish interaction with his teddy bear to nervous tension, anger and violence. I found him to be utterly watchable and witnessing him play out his fate was like having a knot in a back muscle kneaded - painfully wonderful!

An English Tragedy (Photo: Manuel Harin)

Jeremy Child as father Leo Amery and Diana Hardcastle as his wife 'Bryddie' are entirely believable as the bemused and concerned parents who are doing what they can to save their son but who find dealing with the whole thing so utterly alien to what they were used to. Maybe more could have been made in the writing of the effect that the whole episode had on Leo's political career but I guess you can't include everything!

It's all played out on a raised and raked swastika designed by Ralph Koltai, himself a former reference librarian to the British Prosecution at the Nuremberg Trials. It's very effective, if a little predictable, and the space is used well.

It all sounds like heavy stuff doesn’t it, but even if you're not normally into this sort of thing, it’s worth giving it a chance because it's an enthralling story and I enjoyed it being told right to the end.