Review: Grounded in Truth, THE MAN IN THE ATTIC Challenges The Line Between Compassion and Exploitation.

Wednesday 11th July 2018, 7:30pm, Eternity Playhouse

Whilst war is always ugly, we often hope that the common person can still retain a degree of decency. Directed by Moira Blumenthal, Timothy Daly's Patrick White Playwright's Award winning play THE MAN IN THE ATTIC exposes how awful people can be when they lack compassion and humanity.

Based in truth, Daly's 90 minute play presents the story of a Jewish jeweller and watchmaker who was rescued in hidden in a couple's attic during World War II but was not told about the end of the war as his 'landlords' opted to keep exploiting his skills for their own gain. Daly's account of how he came to write the play (published on https://www.shalom.edu.au/search-man-attic/) indicates that whilst he was able research life in rural Germany towards the end of the war and post war, his presentation of the people are predominantly a fictional construct due to destruction of the court reports of the incident, with the story relying on a brief newspaper article.

Hugh O'Connor's set design for the work is impressive in its representation of the attic space and the world beneath, much of which had suffered from the air raids towards the end of the war. Given the height of the work, with the watchmaker naturally presenting the majority of his experience from the attic, this is one performance where it is preferable to be seated further back and therefore higher up in the theatre to gain a full view of the detail of the work. O'Connor ensures that the cramped space of the attic, also filled with stored furniture and forgotten objects, is made clear in the tiny platform that The Jew (Barry French) has to move in. A large radio sits amongst the ruins on the ground providing a reminder of the main source of news that people would have had at the time and the spaces of the homes are implied amongst the rubble with only the inclusion of two basic chairs furnishing the house.

Presented in a combination of narrated recounting of events where the fourth wall is broken and dramatization of the events, the different viewpoints of the story are presented by The Jew (Barry French), The Wife (Danielle King), The Husband (Gus Murray) and The Neighbour (Colleen Cook). Emma Lockhart-Wilson's lighting aids in the differentiation of these storytelling styles with spotlights, expansive washes of light and also allowing voices to emerge from the shadows where the source of the voice is not as important as the story. News broadcasts and the music that keeps The Jew and The Wife company while The Husband is out bartering for food and getting up to other pursuits is presented with a reproduced sound reminiscent of old broadcasts by Sound designer Tegan Nichols.

The core characters to the story are really The Jew and The Wife. French and King both present these characters with a humanity and realism ensuring that the audience can empathise with them. King ensures that The Wife exhibits the inner conflict between wanting to help The Jew and not wanting to upset her husband leading to the understanding that whilst she was complicit in the deceit, she felt remorse for the exploitation. French gives The Jew a quiet dignified air, exhibiting the man's gratefulness that The Wife has rescued him and offered him safety, eventually resigning himself to the confinement of the attic. He ensures that the realisation that he's been trapped and exploited is expressed with a justifiable anger but also restraint as he asks that the only thing he be given is the telescope that has given him comfort over the many sleepless nights.

It's unclear whether it is Blumenthal's directorial choice or the performer's style but The Husband and The Neighbour are presented with less subtly, painting them as uncaring, opportunistic and greedy from the start with no movement apart from getting even more and more vile. Blumenthal's casting choice is also somewhat odd with odd age differences skewing the story. Murray appears younger than King and Cook which is at odds with the society of the time and the story that implies that The Wife is a meek and mild innocent "mouse" and it seems odd that The Husband would be lured into a relationship with the seemingly older Neighbour. The dramatization of the roles is also less natural than that of The Jew and The Wife, giving them a stilted and stiff performance in both in physicality and speech pattern.

An interesting story presented to remove any doubt as to the vileness of the greed and manipulation of the power hungry Husband and Neighbour, THE MAN IN THE ATTIC gives a glimpse into a lesser known aspect of World War II. In an age when there is still division and prejudice against people of other races and religions it is interesting to explore this earlier war that was also based on religion and race. In a civilised world one would expect people to have learnt from the past and try to move away from the destructive and dangerous division based on belief and background but it still happens. The story shows both the humanity of caring for other souls but more importantly how awfully humans can treat each other for their own gain.

THE MAN IN THE ATTIC

4 - 22 July 2018 Eternity Playhouse

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