A play about the truth of a story and why it matters who’s telling it.
The show focuses on a small but significant moment in history, in which we see Nazi Germans plot and plan to stage an attack on a Polish radio tower in order to justify their invasion of Poland at the expense of three lives. This is one of a few attacks that happened in 1939.
As the audience enters the theatre a spotlight shines down on a Nazi officer smoking. Eventually he stands up and slowly surveys the audience, smiling approving, creating an uncomfortable comraderie.
The Nazi officer, SS Major Naujocks is played by Dan Parr who is affable and terrifying scene by scene. He’s joined by a sadistic guard, played by Joe Mallalieu who also covers various other characters.
There are three characters at the heart of the play, all with their own ideas and opinions.
Honoik, a simple local farmer more concerned with the fate of his animals than everything else is played by Tom Wells with an earnest honesty. Wells also interjects the play with speeches from Hitler and is able to switch between the two with ease.
The other two are from Dacau, Krueger is a another German, loyal to his country, but carrying a chip on his shoulder, having grown up impoverished. He’s played by Roman Polonski who gives him this kind of naievité and manages to create empathy for him.
Last of the prisoners is Birnbaum, an educated Jewish man all too aware of the realities of his situation, played by Charlie Archer to great effect.
Together these three create complex characters who you feel for. Each of them has their own story to tell. All of them are never directly address the audience, asking questions we never answer.
The writer Erik Kahn and director Charlotte Cohn are able to tell this story so well.
It’s a play about power and inequality and the lies and truth told by those who want to control a narrative, and feels very relevant in our current political climate.,
Set, stage and lighting all work together incredibly well to help tell this story. The set (by Mona Camille) is simple, used with efficiency, but the star of the show is the lighting (Ryan Joseph Stafford) again simply used, but incredibly effective.
Costume design (Hazel McIntosh) is understated but helps tell the story in a purposeful way.
Overall this story is an interesting look at this moment in history with compelling characters combined to make a statement that’s all too relevant today.
Canned Goods is currently showing at Southwark Playhouse in the large. It’s a compact 90 minutes with no interval.