Review: NACHTLAND, The Young Vic
Photo credit: Ellie Kurttz
Marius von Mayenburg is one of Germany’s most produced contemporary playwrights and it is easy to see why when watching the Young Vic’s latest offering Nachtland. The title is an invented German word that suggests a place of eternal darkness, appropriate when the subject matter is Nazism and how it resonates into the present day. This is not a play for the politically faint hearted as antisemitism and racism are at the forefront, but it is incredibly relevant.
What would you do if you found a painting by Adolf Hitler? This is the question Nachtland seeks to answer when siblings Nicola (Dorothea Myer-Bennett) and Phillipp (John Heffernan) discover that very thing hidden away in the attic of their late father. The answer is of course anything but straightforward. So joined by their respective partners fellow German Fabian (Gunnar Cauthery) and Judith (Jenna Augen) they seek out art historian Evamaria to verify if the painting is genuine and if it is what should they do with it.
Nachtland is directed by Patrick Marber, who won a Tony Award for the play Leopoldstadt, and therefore has excellent credentials to stage von Mayenburg’s brilliantly written material. His direction pairs with an excellent use of lighting, designed by Richard Howell, to demonstrate the division amongst the characters. Nicola wants to sell the painting, Phillipp wants to keep it and his wife, Judith wants to burn it. However, as Jewess Judith is reminded ‘Only Nazis burn art’. The play has a running time of almost two hours with no interval, but it speeds along at pace. This mordant satire frequently breaks the fourth wall to drag you in a world of confliction and reconciling one’s morals with one’s terrible impulses.
Nachtland features a small cast of only six but they fill the large stage with ease, set against the facade of a decrepit house complete with a floor that looks like the remnants of a detonation. Anna Fleischle’s stark set combines with Adam Cork’s sound to create a disconcerting atmosphere which keeps you on the edge of your seat. Von Mayerling certainly has no qualms about making an audience feel uncomfortable. This is keenly felt when art buyer Kahl (Angus Wright) reels off a list of famous alleged antisemites, such as Oscar Wilde and Charles Dickens, to whom the world arguably owes a lot. This instigates a debate about the separation between art and artist but as the play remarks ‘without art there is silence’.
The cast do an excellent job of creating an unnerving environment that makes you sit up and listen. Nachtland features some pretty unpleasant people, but the cast all bring nuance to these conflicted characters. Dorothea Myer-Bennett and John Heffernan are perfectly realistically as bickering siblings Nicola and Phillipp. They navigate their characters grief and relationships with their significant others and their German heritage with carefully consideration. Jenna Augen is exceptional as Judith, the only Jewish character of the piece unable to be viewed separately from her ethnoreligious identity she makes sure to cause trouble. Gunnar Cauthery brings some lightness to the otherwise dark comedy and Jane Horrocks is calm and creepy as Doctor Evamaria Günther. Angus Wright’s Karl has a quietly commanding presence with a deep but quite voice has makes you lean in to hear what he has to say.
Nachtland is an outrageous and audacious dark comedy which is sure to keep you thinking long after you leave the theatre.
**** Four Stars
Reviewed by Sophie Luck