On the surface, this deeply confrontational play deals with several heavy themes, including (but
not limited to) trauma, discrimination and the destructive aftermath of both. But it’s equally concerned with an even more ambitious matter: the nature of truth.
The action begins with several figures in hazmat suits sweeping a crime scene as Laurenz Laufenberg's Édouard explains that this is the site of an “attempted murder”. What follows is anything but a forensic examination as we jump between timelines and perspectives regularly in the account of a one-night stand that descends into robbery, assault and rape.
The cold open on a crime scene means that we know where the action is leading from the start, but Director Thomas Ostermeier keeps the audience hooked with tight pacing and characters rich with detail. Édouard’s monologues are interspersed with scenes in police stations, family homes and hospitals, as he interacts with characters who attempt to shift the narrative to suit their own worldviews. He reacts in horror as police officers become fixated on his assailant’s race and
eavesdrops on his sister and brother-in-law discussing what must have really happened that night.
Things become even more complicated when that sister interrupts Édouard to dispute his version of key family dynamics.
Much of the dialogue is delivered directly to the audience, with drums and occasional keys by onstage musician Thomas Witte lending a skittish energy that ratchets up the tension, while phone footage projected onto the back of the stage zooms in on some especially intimate moments.
Laufenberg’s three fellow cast members all perform multiple roles, and despite the language barrier (the dialogue is in German with English surtitles), they embody the main characters so fully that at times it’s possible to forget that we are watching actors. When Laufenberg flashes a broad grin during the curtain call that comes just minutes after a graphic depiction of his character’s rape, it’s particularly jarring.
The result is a messy, sometimes confusing account that resists any attempts to find neat answers or clear morals. In the absence of an objective truth, everybody is left to reckon with their pain and try to derive meaning from it. In that sense, this challenging production is the perfect play for the post-truth era.
FOUR AND A HALF STARS (OUT OF FIVE)
The reviewer attended the performance on 1 st March.
Image supplied and credited to Arno Declair.
