Thursday, January 12, 2023, 1:32 PM
★★★
Watch on the Rhine opens with the phrase “disinformation” being slung around. It feels modern, and it is. The word has been around since the 16th century, which is why it appeared in Lillian Hellmann’s 1941 play about Kurt Müller, an anti-fascist protester who escapes possible imprisonment in Germany to stay with his family in America.
Maybe director Ellen McDougall had the idea of aligning Hellmann’s ideals regarding freedom struggle with contemporary ideas on the rise fascism in Europe. This was also accompanied by a message about telling the truth. The collection is extravagantly luxurious, with large armchairs and cream carpets. It’s the kind of lavish middle-class atmosphere in which unpleasant things are not discussed.
The family waits impatiently for Kurt’s arrival. Each family member is shocked at his absence. The idea is that we present the clash between disparate ideals: Kurt’s protests, the displacement families because of them, and how it all troubles Fanny who is content with her self-satisfied life.
McDougall’s vision keeps the tension of the first act alive as the Farrelly families welcome Kurt, his wife and their children to their suburban home. Hellman’s script is full a lively humor, making it easy to laugh, even if there’s no side splitting. But the second act is very weighty. There is not much happening, and there is no rallying cry about fascism’s destructive effects on families.
It’s not like Mark Waschki doesn’t get all out like Kurt on The Rhine: at end of the first Act, his body twists into bizarre shapes, and his face looks like a rabid animal, evoking the grief, courage, stress, and danger of man forced back into danger because of their beliefs. The audience is not allowed to examine his concerns and feel them authentically. Patricia Hodge is stunning as Fanny, waving her arms, and telling jokes with ease.
But be careful, the Rhine sways lightly. It is jarring to see Joseph David Weber’s symbolic detours opening and closing, which help to question the role of blacks in the privileged white community. I don’t know if Watch on the Rhine should be recreated in 2023. But if it is, it’s not.
Watch on the Rhine, Donmar Station, runs until February 4, Tickets are available on the official website
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