Good




This was a play we have been anticipating for two years so we weren’t going to let the little matter of a tube strike put us off. This isn’t a subtle play but it’s certainly powerful and I’d say it is even more timely after being delayed by Covid and in this age of high populism.

The play charts how an ordinary-ish man goes on a Faustian journey from going along with, then is complicit, leading to full immersion in the Nazi project of genocide. The challenge of standing up to something that you know is wrong but might be ‘Good’ for an individual but bad for others is explicitly called out and the fact that David Tennant’s Halder doesn’t believe the ‘anti-jewish rubbish’ makes his complicity even more painful as he betrays his family and friends for his own good life.

We’d talked over dinner before the play about what gives life value, and had an interesting discussion in the interval about climate change protest and what is and isn’t acceptable, which shows how live these issues are. How far should we stand by when bad things are happening because they don’t affect you, or in the hope that the people in power have good intentions, or will be stopped by someone else from doing dreadful things? It made me think about my current tendency of turning off the news and turning up the dance music - how far am I (and all of us) down the same track as Halder?

A spare production with the cast whittled down to just three, the multiple roles quite often added an extra dimension, pulling out parallels between the different characters. I didn’t really understand the music soundtrack in his head at the start, but it turned out to be a pretty good metaphor leading to the big ending which I think worked well.

David Tennant is always an interesting actor to watch; physical, keeping likeable whilst articulating complicated sophistry to justify his actions. He stays engaging and human even as he dons a Nazi uniform, taking us with him despite the sense of accelerating doom.  Brilliant performance.   Elliot Levey and Sharon Small were both excellent too, I love the way an actor's physicality changes a whole character. This is a play full of intellectual discussion  but it was always human and never felt weighed down.

I’ve made it sound like a really depressing evening but it wasn’t at all. Great actors, powerful play and good company with lots to think about afterwards. Loved it!

EDIT: I don’t read reviews before going to plays but just read the Guardian review here and it sums it up better than I can.



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