Hannah Moscovitch’s East of Berlin is a powerful one-act play. It opens with Rudi, the son of a Nazi war criminal, nervously trying to light his cigarette. Once he composes himself, he shares his story with the audience, revealing the struggles he faces because of his father’s horrific past.
Rudi (Brendan Gall) shows Sarah (Diana Donnelly) his father’s jacket from the war.
Rudi, brilliantly portrayed by Brendan Gall, makes the audience aware of the torment he faces as the son of a Nazi. Through a series of flashbacks, the character recounts the painful life he’s led since his childhood friend Hermann, played by Paul Dunn, reveals that Rudi’s father was a Nazi doctor at Auschwitz.
Born after the war, Rudi grew up believing his father was a good man who fought faithfully for his country and lost. He never questioned why his family frequently moved from one South American country to another until they settled in Paraguay.
As Rudi poses questions to the audience searching for ways to come to grips with his father’s past, Moscovitch’s script cleverly gets the audience to think of how we might deal with these very difficult issues.
What should a person do if they find out that someone they love has kept his past a secret? Could the same parent that read you a bedtime story and who gave you an “ordinary” life be capable of atrocities? Should children be responsible for their parents’ conduct?
It’s not until Rudi meets a young Jewish woman, Sarah (Diana Donnelly), a Holocaust survivor’s daughter, that he fully understands the enormity of his father’s actions.
Moscovitch (who also wrote The Russian Play and Essay) and director Alisa Palmer skillfully take you on a 90-minute journey, one that’s difficult to deal with at times, but one you won’t want to miss. The moving performances by the three cast members are believable and understated, as is the simple yet creative set design, consisting of bookcases with a door leading to Rudi’s past.
This production marks the play’s return to the Tarragon Theatre’s Extra Space. A 2007 production garnered wide critical praise, winning the Dora Mavor Moore Award for outstanding set design (Camellia Koo) and a nomination for outstanding new play (Moscovitch). The current production has the same cast and crew as its 2007 debut.
The up-and-coming playwright was inspired to develop this play while in the 2006-2007 Tarragon Playwright’s Unit, after reading two books – Legacy of Silence and Born Guilty –that included a series of interviews with Nazi children conducted by Jews. The play’s title refers to the euphemism Germans used for what was happening to Jews, claiming they were being “resettled in the east.” During the war, Jews of Berlin coined the term “going east” to mean “going to the death.”
The play runs at the Tarragon until Feb. 1. It then plays at the Touchstone Theatre in Vancouver from Feb. 18 to 28, and at the Theatre Network in Edmonton from March 10 to 29.
Tickets for the Toronto production are available at the Tarragon box office, 30 Bridgman Ave., 416-531-1827. Tuesday–Saturday performances at 8 p.m. are $35-45. Saturday and Sunday matinees at 2:30 p.m. are $35 and Friday night rush seats are $15.