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Swingtime for Hitler
Propaganda Swing
Belgrade Theatre, Coventry
****
PETER Arnott’s
Propaganda Swing,
based on a true story, brings alive a period of history where a cocktail
of contradictions, a mixture of menace and merriment, purity and
prurience infected the German Fatherland.
Wagner is in, Tin Pan Alley definitely out. It’s
Berlin, August 1939 as the Nazi war machine is in full swing – music is
strictly controlled by order – and Charly and his Orchestra are
dragooned (and paid well) to provide light entertainment to Lord Haw
Haw’s broadcasts to Britain. An American war correspondent,
Bill Constant (Richard Conlon), detailed to send broadcasts back to
America is in love with the band’s jazz singer Lala Anderson (Miranda
Wilford), wife of band leader Lutz Templin (Tomm Coles). His voice
outlines the story as it unfolds. Their ill-fated affair provides the
romantic impetus of the piece. Propaganda expert and wannabe
An curious if startling cameo
of ‘Hinkie’ and Anita also shows him to be a man with interesting
foibles that don’t usually form part of the Nazi doctrines of purity,
Freud would probably point at repression – just like the music. The doctrine of purity, both
racial and musical, has outlawed jazz, the Devil’s music, and driven it,
quite literally, underground. Black musicians and Jewish songwriters are
too much for the Nazis. Light relief comes in the form
of Mr Fixit, funnyman and club owner Otto Stenzl (Chris Andrew Mellon)
who, for me, simply stole the show. It is both clever writing, from
Peter Arnott and casting that you know from the outset that one
character is doomed, yet a born survivor. The twist at the end is worth
the ticket money on its own. What a corker! I never saw that coming! There is some great music, and
a great band and the song Lilli Marlene features as it should, sung
elegantly and movingly. I particularly enjoyed the Minnie the Moocher
rendition from the band with the new words to explain the limitations of
the regime. Directed by Hamish Glen it runs to 27-09-14. Jane Howard
16-09-14 And from a table near the band . . . **** CHRIS Andrew Mellon gives what must be one of the performances of his life as Otto Stenzl, the gay, larger than life club owner in Berlin, a leftover from a previous, more permissive age of Berlin in the 20s and 30s, the age of Isherwood. There are elements of Archie Rice in his final bitter and funny, stand up act, a self destruct, moment of defiance as the Nazis set out to destroy him and the heart of the Berlin he has known. This is a time of puritanical nationalism, at least in public, with Jazz, Jewish and black music, allowed only for propaganda with familiar tunes with new, clunking words glorifying the Nazis and despising the allies. Callam Coates is wonderfully obnoxious as William Joyce, Lord Haw Haw, while Jonny Bower as Charly would have been quite likable as a singer had he not been a Nazi . no such danger with our other, neighbourhood National Socialist. Paul Lincoln ensured there was nothing likeable about the fanatical Hinkel, a sort of Her Flick without either the limp or the laughs. Clara Darcy provides a two-faced, untrustworthy climber in Anita, who plays trumpet and betrayal in equal measure, while Miranda Wilford as Lala and Tomm Coles as Lutz are the unfortunate singer and bandleader caught up in politics and propaganda in Nazi Germany. Play Nazi jazz or . . . well, or else. Richard Conlon's Bill Constant, is a throwback to the firms of the 30s and 40s with the voice over of the private eye hero narrating the tale as you went along, a nice period touch. Lighting from Mike Robertson was also worth a mention as was a fine set from Libby Watson and the show would never have worked without a band of excellent musicians. Its a quality production, directed by Hamish Glen, which is entertaining, funny or sad at times, but has a sinister undercurrent which gives a hint of what life in Berlin under the Nazis was like. Roger Clarke 19-09-14
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jazz singer Charly Schwedler (Jonny Bower) has been given Lutz’s band to
crank up the dwindling ratings for Haw Haw’s diatribes. Charly’s
girlfriend jazz singer and trumpeter Anita Spada (Clara Darcy) gradually
changes her romantic allegiance to Herr Heinrich Hinkle (Paul Lincoln)
to Charly’s chagrin. Hinkle is the ‘baddie’, the man with menace in his
bones.