Diplomacy

There was a palpable buzz in the foyer, aided by news that the play was sold out before opening night and destined for a national tour in 2019. The combination of a thrilling World War 2 drama, set in Paris, directed and starring Australia’s most lauded Shakespearian actor John Bell, had already proved box office alchemy.

Onto Ensemble’s stage entered John Bell in full Nazi regalia. My first thought was how closely he resembled Colonel Klink in Hogan’s Heroes and initially it felt like a more like a commercial Hollywood movie script than a serious play.

The backdrop of the set was a large map of Paris. Stunning military costumes and the sepia tone of the lighting add to the menacing atmosphere.

German General Deitrich von Choltitz (John Bell) is supervising plans to blow up Paris, just hours before the Allied forces reclaim the city, only two months after the Normandy D-day invasion. Hilter has given an order that the remaining 2000 Nazi soldiers in the city supervise its destruction.  

Details of the plan are chilling. The city’s magnificent landmarks will be blown up one by one. What is not destroyed by explosive devices will be flooded by the Seine. Two million residents could perish. The pièce de résistance is the planned destruction of the Eiffel Tower (wouldn’t a Hollywood Director enjoy simulating that).

What makes the drama all too real is the fact that it is based on a true story. At a meeting in Germany, Hitler told the General to leave no religious building or historic monument standing. He confirmed the order by cable, telling Gen von Choltitz to turn the city into a "pile of rubble" and famously asked the General “Is Paris burning.”

The hero in this melodrama is the Swedish diplomat Raoul Nordling (John Gaden).  This play is about how to talk a Nazi out of giving orders for a senseless act of evil.

When the diplomat slips into the general’s office it appears to be mission impossible. Not only are the plans perilously close to being carried out, but Hitler has threatened to execute the General’s family if he does not ‘succeed’ in the mission. John Bell is utterly convincing as a clinically efficient Nazi soldier following orders (Laurence Olivier played a Nazi too with distinction in Marathon Man).

John Gaden is warming to the role, displaying boundless reservoirs of calm and wit in the face of looming chaos.  Other actors make cameo appearances - Genevieve Lemon as loyal soldier Frau Mayer, James Lugton as Werner Erbenach and Joseph Raggatt as a model blonde Hitler Youth boy solider - Hans Brendorf.

Diplomacyis a major coup for the Ensemble Theatre and is destined to thrill a large national audience.

David Spicer

Photographer: Prudence Upton.