THE INVESTIGATION, staged by The Birmingham Ormiston Academy at the Second City’s Old Rep, made very powerful theatre.
It was the final play of the All Our Cost trilogy which examined the Holocaust and, having seen this, I wish I had seem the other two vehicles.
I use the term ‘vehicle’ rather than play as the original text by Peter Weiss is simply the evidence presented at the Frankfurt War Crimes Trials 1963-5 – what BOA has done is to use this as the frame on which to build a brilliant piece of physical theatre which is as relentless as it is powerful.
The cast multi-roled throughout and worked together in complete harmony to reproduce the dreadful journey of the internees from shock of arriving at Auschwitz – where they were stripped of possessions, hair and dignity – through every kind of hell, degradation to death in the gas chambers, medical experimentation and ovens. They did this by leaping in and out of the real time trial to re-enact the brutality and inhumanity – sometimes by moments – sometimes by scenes sometimes by physicality – sometimes by naturalism – always realistically.
The BOA production succeeded on many levels – despite it’s length and complexity it was compelling – despite knowing the history it managed to bring new shocks and most of all it hammered home the message that the denial was as big a crime as the actual events. Directors Christopher Watson and James Lees obviously earned the trust of the cast in their care to nurture such a treasure box of performances.
A decade or so ago I was in Munich on business – having a spare afternoon I decided to visit Dachau the concentration camp memorial site. This had such a profound effect on me that I had to just sit in silence for a couple of hours afterwards. Whilst this production was about Auschwitz, the memories of that visit all came flooding back.
It was a truly shared production and I felt very privileged to have shared it with them.
The standing ovation was indeed deserved.
Euan Rose
