‘East of Berlin’ a powerful tragedy at Bridge Street Theatre
CATSKILL, N.Y. — “East of Berlin”, playing at Bridge Street Theatre in Catskill through Sunday, is a play loaded with tantalizing issues.
The most obvious question is the amount of guilt a generation should carry for the actions of one’s parents. When and how do you forgive a parent for committing the worst type of atrocity?
And, because “East of Berlin” takes place shortly after World War II and centers on victims and criminals involved in the Holocaust, there is the subject of man’s inhumanity to man.
However, at its essence, this remarkable play’s strength is the universal and timeless question of how do we overcome the past to forge our own identity in the present.
Rudi is the play’s central character. The first movement of the play shows him being raised by a kind but otherwise unremarkable German family living in Paraguay. He is about 16 when he learns his father performed unconscionable medical experiments on Jews at Auschwitz.
The second part of the 90-minute work presented without an intermission has Rudi move to Berlin.
There he meets and falls in love with an AmericanJew, Sarah, whose mother was an Auschwitz survivor. Both of their parents were at the concentration camp at the same time.
The final segment takes you into the crisis of a relationship in which lies of omission are discovered. This part is startling, unpredictable and emotionally stunning.
“East of Berlin” is offered slowly and with a deliberate pace. It is, however, an effective way to build to the emotional payoff.
Most of the play is offered almost as a confessional monologue.
Rudi describes to us his childhood, the horrors his father committed and his confusion on reconciling the man who raised him with the man who was a war criminal hiding from justice.
Orlando Grant offers a remarkable portrayal of Rudi, a clearly damaged man with overly controlled emotions.
He is an articulate individual who lacks the ability to seem alive in his own skin. Indeed, from his extraordinarily long opening monologue it is clear this is a person incapable of joy.
That is, until he moves to Berlin where he meets Sarah. The two fall in love, but Sarah does not know of Rudi’s father. However, she too is a wounded soul because of a deed committed by her mother.
Thanks to a sweet, intelligent and warm performance by Kara Arena as Sarah, it appears Rudi might have a chance to be happy. It is her performance that brings some light texture and emotion to a mostly cold, analytical, but albeit sometimes funny work.
The third person in the play is Hermann. He is Rudi’s only friend, and a bit more. Though Hermann is slightly underdeveloped, JD Scalzo finds intrigue in the man. In a work about evil, he might unknowingly be the one truly evil person in the play.
Playwright Hannah Moscovitch is phenomenal in creating a complex situation. She constantly shifts the moral ground of the play which makes honest the play’s stunning final resolution.
Her writing, along with the direction of Margo Whitcomb, has you feel like you’ve entered the world of Eugene O’Neil both in style of writing and the pacing of the play.
Their work and Grant’s portrayal of Rudi make him a literary heir to Hickey in “The Iceman Cometh,” James Tyrone in “A Moon for the Misbegotten” and Eric Smith in “Hughie.”
They are all flawed, tragic figures doomed to a life of solitary pain from the day they were born.
The presentation receives marvelous support from John Sowle’s set, which, like the material, reveals its secrets as the play progresses. Despite some glitches on opening night, his lighting is as evocative as is the story.
“East of Berlin” is a play for adults only. Also, it is not for individuals who prefer light material. For all others, it is a worthy work that you will long re