Farewell Mister Haffmann - Review

Park Theatre, London

***

Written by Jean-Philippe Daguerre

Translated by Jeremy Sams

Directed by Oscar Toeman

Nigel Harman and Jemima Rooper

Blending history with fiction, Jean-Phillipe Daguerre’s narrative explores Paris under Nazi occupation in the early 1940s.

Alex Waldmann is the titular Parisian jeweller, a Jew who transfers the ownership of his business to his Catholic employee Pierre (Michael Fox) to avoid it being seized by the Nazis. Haffmann also requests of Pierre that he and his wife Isabelle (Jennifer Kirby) move into the flat above the jewellery shop, with the hope that the couple will provide sufficient decoy to enable the jeweller to avoid deportation to the concentration camps. Not long into the establishment of this ménage-a-trois, we learn that Pierre is infertile and that a bizarre deal is to be brokered in which Haffmann is to impregnate Isabelle. This is an improbable storyline at best, which for the audience’s disbelief to be effectively suspended, requires actors of the highest calibre. Unfortunately the hard-working trio lack a convincing chemistry and so the first hour or so of this 90-minute, one-act play makes for soggy and unconvincing drama.

However - much like the way Steven Spielberg made the audience wait 80 minutes before revealing the shark in his movie Jaws, the evening’s final third is electric, as Otto Abetz (Nigel Harman), Hitler’s real-life ambassador to France together with his wife Suzanne (Jemima Rooper) arrive as the dinner guests of Pierre and Isabelle.

Harman’s Nazi is clipped and manicured and in a performance that must surely be up for an Offie nomination, his manifestation of the Third Reich’s evil proves as mesmerising as Christoph Waltz’s Hans Landa in Quentin Tarantino’s Inglorious Basterds. Rooper’s drunken Suzanne is equally entertaining.

There maybe moments when Farewell Mister Haffmann feels like a long-haul but hang in there, Nigel Harman is sensational!

Runs until 12th April

Photo credit: Mark Senior

Hand to God - Review

Vaudeville Theatre


****


Written by Robert Askins
Directed by Moritz von Stuelpnagel

Harry Melling

Hand to God is the cleverly written story of Jason (played by Harry Melling of Harry Potter fame) a quiet and awkward teenager, struggling to deal with his father's death six months prior.

Through his mother's church Puppet Therapy class, Jason discovers a friend in Tyrone, his sock-puppet, or so it would seem. As the story progresses Tyrone begins to act on Jason’s real thoughts and desires with wild abandon, from flirting with his classroom crush (Jemima Rooper) to standing up to and viciously attacking his bully (Kevin Mains), having sex and generally wreaking havoc. It has been suggested that Tyrone is the manifestation of a demonic possession and that dark forces are at work. More realistically though, the extreme puppetry touches upon the issues and mental struggles that Jason faces in dealing with his grief and the lack of support from his Janie Dee as his mother - who herself ends up having a steamy, slightly dominatrix-like affair with his bully in the church bathroom.

Mellings' performances of Jason and Tyrone are remarkable. From portraying the quiet and shy Jason one second, whilst the next giving an entirely juxtaposed performance of Tyrone complete with expert puppeteering, shows the makings of a very talented actor. 

It’s not just the performances that impress. Robert Askins' book is clever, crude and full of witty one-liners that make the audience cringe, cry out and laugh all at once. Beowulf Boritt's set is another highlight, detailed with clean and swift scene changes, it adds to making the show crisp and well put together.

In a story that some may find offensive, Hand to God is not going to be everyone’s cup of tea. Its quick humour, extensive set and intelligent subtext certainly will however make a big impression. Hand to God is an intriguing and relevant comedy with a heart of darkness that makes for excellent modern theatre.

Runs until 11th June

Reviewed by Charlotte Darcy