by Joshua Sobol
Directed by Michael Ronen. Designed by Nicky Bunch. Music by Yaniv Fridel. Presented by Conflict Zone and the finboroughtheatre.
Cast
Sergeant Bastian - James Henry Parker
Franz Jägerstätter - Mel Raido
Maria - Lucja Nowicka/Natalia Tatarka
Margaret - Leah Muller
Franca - Natalie Radmall-Quirke
Dr Raps - Lucinda Millward
Martin - Jonathan Bryan
Hans - Richard Atwill Schreiber - James Henry Parker
Ranft - Leah Muller
Feldmann - Jonathan Bryan
Vice-Admiral Arps - Lucinda Millward
General Mussof - Richard Atwill
Father Jochmann - Richard Atwill
Warden - Jonathan Bryan
[ new year, new plays season ]
The UK premiere of a new play by the author of Ghetto
2 - 27 January 2007
In 1943, an Austrian farmer named Franz Jagerstatter was beheaded for refusing to wear a Nazi uniform and serve in the army of the Third Reich. IWitness, based on that true story, is set during Jagerstatter's final day in prison, where his friends and loved ones come to plead with him to abandon his principles to save his life. Jagerstatter remains one of the leading Christian martyr’s of the 20th century. The Priest who was with him when he was executed wrote "I can say with certainty that this simple man is the only saint I have ever met in my lifetime."
IWitness was written in a period of awakening for the conscientious objectors movement in Israel, following years of Israeli occupation in the Palestinian territories. Joshua Sobol says: “IWitness played for six months at the Cameri in Israel with full houses; nobody was fooled that it was just about conscientious objection during the Second World War.”
Playwright Joshua Sobol was born in Tel Aviv in 1939. His first play was performed in 1971 by the Municipal Theatre in Haifa, where Sobol was also Artistic Director until he resigned over the widespread protests across Israel at the performance of his play The Jerusalem Syndrome. His plays have been seen throughout the Middle East, Europe and North America. He is best known to British audiences for his play Ghetto, seen at the National Theatre, and winner of the 1989 Evening Standard Award and the Critics’ Circle Award for Best Play of the Year, and was also nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Play.
Exciting young Israeli Director Michael Ronen has directed film and theatre in Israel including working with Kathryn Hunter on a workshop of King Lear at the Jerusalem Stage Centre.
The cast includes - Mel Raido’s credits includes Fireface (Royal Court), Cape High (National Theatre Studio) and Jesus in Corpus Christi (Theatre 28). Leah Muller was nominated for an Oliver Award for Most Promising Newcomer for her performance as the Stepdaughter in the Young Vic’s Six Characters in Search of An Author. Lucinda Millward has just graduated from the Guildhall School of Music and Drama where she played Blanche in A Streetcar Named Desire. Natalie Radmall-Quirke credits include Jane Eyre (Gate, Dublin). Richard Atwill and Jonathan Bryan have both just graduated from LAMDA.
The Press on IWitness
“A moral drama that pricks the conscience and stirs the soul” Dominic Cavendish, The Telegraph
“The play is fascinating” Michael Billington, The Guardian
“This fascinating play from Joshua Sobol, which offers a lesson in the nobility and stupidity of self-sacrifice.”
Kieron Quirke, Evening Standard
“This is an impressive production of a powerful play...timely and thought-provoking”
Rivka Jacobson, British Theatre Guide
”A tautly observed meditation on the nature of martyrdom...A fascinatingly challenging…production”
Rachel Halliburton, Time Out
“Neil McPherson is one to watch. Since he took over the running of the Finborough Theatre in 1999, the young Scotsman has transformed this small room above an Earl's Court pub into a blazing beacon of intelligent endeavour, nurturing new writers while finding and reviving neglected curiosities from home and abroad. ..He raises the curtain on the New Year with another welcome coup: the UK première of a 2003 play by Israeli playwright Joshua Sobol, best known for his drama about Vilnius's wartime theatre, Ghetto”
Dominic Cavendish, The Telegraph
“An astonishing example of courage and dignity in adversity.” Benedict Nightingale, The Times
“A moving portrait of Franz's earthly sanctity: written at a time when 600 Israeli pilots and soldiers were refusing to bear arms, the play has a palpable metaphorical power.” Michael Billington, The Guardian
“Hard-hitting… Sobol wrote it with Israeli conscientious objectors in mind... It is clearly a subject too explosive to have been addressed directly in the present state of Israel, but the allegory is plain and it has been a sell-out in Israeli theatres.” Julia Hickman, Theatreworld Internet Magazine
“Dreamlike and nightmarish, sometimes uplifting and often grim.” Julia Hickman, Theatreworld Internet Magazine
“Sobol embellishes the scene with a judicious amount of colour.” Dominic Cavendish, The Telegraph
“Sobol avoids sentimentality and lets his strongly drawn characters tell this extremely powerful story.”
Julia Hickman, Theatreworld Internet Magazine
“Mel Raido radiates a steely serenity as Franz” Julia Hickman, Theatreworld Internet Magazine
“Movingly acted by Mel Raido” Rivka Jacobson, British Theatre Guide
“Mel Raido's fearless-eyed Jägerstätter - dignified even though stripped to his underwear - continues to mesmerise”
Dominic Cavendish, The Telegraph
“Mel Raido, looking Christ-like, gives a magnetic and eloquent performance” Paul Taylor, The Independent
“Mel Raido’s compelling Jagerstatter, looks like across between Jesus and a Calvin Klein model”
Maxie Szalwinska, Metro
“Exquisitely acted by Leah Muller” Rivka Jacobson, British Theatre Guide
“Staunchly supported by Leah Muller, who lends his first love a wispy sensuality” Michael Billington, The Guardian
“Lucinda Millward's creepily crisp prison doctor” Kieron Quirke, Evening Standard
“An adorable…turn from poppet Natalia Tatarka” Kieron Quirke, Evening Standard
“Richard Atwill, who notably doubles as a survival-conscious chauffeur and a bewildered priest”
Michael Billington, The Guardian
“Fine performances, notably from Richard Atwill who doubles as friend and priest to our hero.”
Kieron Quirke, Evening Standard
“Michael Ronen's edgy production - all blinking neon and oppressive-sound effects - highlights some magical moments along the way” Kieron Quirke, Evening Standard
“Michael Ronen’s well-acted production” Benedict Nightingale, The Times
“Michael Ronen's production, filled with the sound of pans being scoured and shoes scrubbed, brilliantly evokes Franz's ferocious work ethic.” Michael Billington, The Guardian
“Nicky Bunch’s design – as bare and chilling as a slaughterhouse – is an effective reminder of Nazi brutality”
Maxie Szalwinska, Metro
