An attractive young man in a tuxedo leans against a piano and croons, "I'm always chasing rainbows," as if you were his lover. And for a moment, you are enchanted. Then it is revealed that this handsome devil is an SS Officer and you're sitting in the middle of a bar frequented by Nazis.
This is how C.P. Taylor's play "Good" begins, and the atmosphere of the Irish Classical Theatre is thick with German World War II nostalgia, represented best by the cabaret and jazz music provided by a piano player and a violinist who remained onstage throughout the production .
Marlene Dietrich even pops up and serenades the audience with "Falling in Love Again" in a low-cut jump suit. The men wear pinstripe suits, the women rouge their lips and wear their hair in curled bobs, while the war and Hitler's name are on everyone's lips.
The play centers around the life of a university professor named John Halder who, after a series of seemingly simple procedures, joins the Nazi party.
The performance itself is compelling. The actors succeed in delivering powerful performances that resonate well in the closed space that the theater provides.
And truly, there isn't a bad seat in the house. The stage sits in the middle of the room, and there are only a few rows of seats that wrap around it, allowing everyone a particularly excellent view, and a closeness to the actors that is rare with other theaters. The scene changes take on a liquid feel, and overhead spotlights substitute for opening and closing curtains.
The play attempts to deal with the question of how a man as average as John Halder, a married college professor with children, could believe that Hitler's ideas were justifiable. Paul Todaro expertly portrays Halder, a veteran actor of the theater, who displays the professor's mental disarray with such appeal that one actually wants to be on his side.
"The skill of the actors is very good," said Lou Pozarny, a financial donor of the theater.
However, Halder's actions speak for themselves. Halder ends up leaving his wife and children in order to carry on an affair with Anne, one of his students. He thereafter goes into the forest to join the ranks of the Third Reich.
Hallie Clarke plays Anne as a virginal Aryan goddess who doesn't quite realize that she is one. Sure, she's gorgeous and sweet, but as the pair indulges in a romantic rendezvous like two innocent teenagers, you can see that they're still both headed down a very dark path.
The scenes are broken up between Halder's brief moments with Anne, his meetings with the various officials from the SS, and his conversations with his only friend Maurice, a Jew-hating Jew. Hitler appears as a hallucination during one of these conversations while Maurice is begging Halder not to join the Nazis. Hitler marches onstage and shouts at the audience about his ideas for the Final Solution.
It's jarring to see and hear Hitler shouting at you, especially in an enclosed space. Maurice is justifiably afraid of Hitler, but Halder believes that this whole thing is just a phase and that it will pass.
"Good" leaves you feeling a bit sad and uncomfortable, and the ending doesn't answer all the questions. Halder remains unsure about whether being a Nazi makes him good or bad, even though he hasn't killed any Jews. He is reassured by Anne, as she helps him into his SS uniform, that "Whatever happens around us, however we get pushed, we're still good people."
Yeah, right.
"Good" is playing at the Irish Classical Theater through Feb. 12. Tickets are $15 for students.
Photo: Courtesy of Matthew Messina, from the RMBERS' Instagram page
