l by Alex Prior
At Courthouse Theatre until
Feb 8 1997
Reviewed by Kate Herbert around Feb 2, 1997
It is 1939 in Australia. Heine Leibowitz is German. No
wonder he was interned. Ah, but he was Jewish. He was still interned. He was
also homosexual. No hope for Heine. Nobody loves a triple minority.
The Last Blue Angel by Alex Prior, has taken a scrap of
historical fact about such a man and developed a political piece of
theatre. It is a snappy burlesque that,
ironically, blends Berlin Cabaret of the 1920's with Britain's Second World War
Concert Parties.
Subject number 162 , as he was recorded for history, was
grabbed in King's Cross. The rest of Heine's story is extrapolated by Prior
from an informed understanding of the social and political attitudes of the
period. The Dunera Boys suffered similar treatment during internment. Poor
Heine was to be victimised by everybody: the Nazis, the Orthodox and the
Aussies were all hostile. And to cap it all off, after the war his Europe would
be unrecognisable.
Prior, with director Kim Baston (also on piano and
accordion) have not allowed such difficult and painful material interfere with
some really entertaining content. Songs, both original and from Kurt Weill and
other German cabaret artists, are woven into Heine's narration Charles Barry
plays him with relish as a Joel Grey-style show host.
The barber's quartet (there are three of 'em) of singin',
dancin' soldiers are a hearty and vigorous ensemble and Luke Gallagher gives a
moving rendition of Weill's Surabaja Johnny.
The piece does not become sentimental. It is firmly in the
tradition of didactic, Agit-Prop (agitational-propaganda) theatre and Brecht. A
cheery Bavarian slap-dance becomes an allegory for oppression. Comic slaps turn
into punches, dance steps into kicks.
In the end, looking at history, has anything really changed?
Homosexuals in the nineties are still feared and castigated by many. But even
more insidiously, they are often patronised by those who merely imitate their
culture or describe them as "artistic and interesting". To quote the
play, "We do for the past what we cannot agree to do for the future,"
i.e. we change it to suit ourselves.
KATE HERBERT
No comments:
Post a Comment