Two of the men then introduced themselves to the audience. One man was quite short and skinny and his name was Hersh. The other man was much bigger and his name was Meuscher. They both told the audience their stories and how they came to be in Auschwitz. They spoke to the audience as if we were close to them unlike conventional theatre. Their proximity to the audience made us feel as if we knew them. They spoke to us in an intimate manner, which made us feel comfortable in their company. They were both Jewish and about the same age.
Neither man knew where they were or what they were doing here. As they entered the camp there were two corridors – one to the right and one to the left. All the stronger looking men went to the right and all the women and children to the left. We found out later that everyone that went to the left were on their way to the gas chambers. Everyone who went to the right were sentenced to hard labour. Hersh and Meusher had been sent through the door to the right. The two men didn’t understand why they’d been separated from their families and there was a confused, frantic atmosphere as the two men tried to work out what they were doing here. The two men seemed scared and worried, but it was nothing to what was to come. Their body language wasn’t very controlled and one of the men kept shouting
"What have they done with my sister?"
As the set was extremely basic (see Set Design on page 2) it was difficult to work out where they were. So it was the audience as well as the two men who were unaware of their situation.
As they were contemplating their situation a Jewish worker entered. This was an important scene because it put across to the audience what was going to happen. He told them about the concentration camp and that the people that went through the left corridor were going to be murdered. He told them that they were going to be doing hard labour and that were only expected to last three months. He told them they must try and stay strong, as if the physical brutality becomes too much then they will die. The Jewish worker leaves and there is a blackout.
Enter the most powerful part of the play, the labour. The audience is surprisingly alarmed by the shouting of a German soldier. He wakes the men up and orders them into what I believe was a mine.
“Jews, if you do not work you will fucking die.”
His words bitter and cruel, which reflects his attitude and personality. He is wearing a green military suit and carries a metal stick which he repetitively hits these two metal sheets. At first it is unclear what these sheets represent, but you can see that as he hits them the two men react as if they have been beaten. In my opinion this method of demonstrating the men being beaten is very effective. The timing of the soldier hitting the metal sheet and the reaction of the two men was near to perfect. If the soldier hit the bottom of the sheet the men would react as if they had been hit on the legs and if he hit the top as if they had been hit on the upper regions of their bodies. Also the sound of the metal bar making contact with the metal sheets was loud and powerful, so this method of dramatising punishment really got the audience to understand the horrific punishment that these two men felt.
SET DESIGN
I think this simple set design is very effective, as it doesn’t let the audience get distracted by scene change. You find yourself concentrating 100% on the play because you get drawn into it. The sheer simplicity of the whole play is what I feel makes it so effective. These poor Jews have absolutely nothing so maybe the set reflected the characters situation. As you can see the two men stood far apart from each other with the soldier standing in the middle. This represented the fact that the two men were lonely and had no one, nothing.
“Work!”
The two men used the technique of mime whilst doing their work. They seemed to be pulling something very heavy. Their faces clenched, sweat dripping down their faces. You really felt the tremendous strain that these helpless men were under.
“Coffee.” The German Soldier ordered.
The men stopped and appeared to be taking a drink, which was infact muddy water. You really felt a sense of relief when they stopped working, but it was short lived as they were back working within seconds.
After a while the soldier would stop them from working and the workers that weren’t physically strong enough to carry on got sent to the gas chambers.
“If you don’t work you will fucking die.” Blackout.
The two men got sent to bed and this is the only time of the play where you really get a sense of how these two men are feeling. We get to know the two men a bit more as they talk about their lives families etc. The atmosphere is relaxed, in total contrast from the tense, horrific atmosphere in the scene before. In these scenes the actors are stationary, there is no movement, They are physically exhausted and can barely move. The audience feel relived that the day’s torture is over – surely they couldn’t possible treat them ant worse?
Again they’re woken up by the soldier. This time before they do any work they have to endure pointless punishment.
“Crouch down! On your knees! Stomach! Knees! Stomach! Knees!”
You can see sweat running down their bodies. The determination in their faces, knowing that if they stop they will die. All this suffering has a big effect on the audience. It’s the same every day.
“Wake, Roll call, Work, Coffee, Work, Eat, Sleep.”
The metal bar is continuously beating them
“If you do not work you will fucking die”
I think swearing is so frequently used in the play because it shows that the guard has a total lack of respect for the Jewish religion. The fact that these men are getting treated so badly and are unable to do anything about it makes the audience feel for them.
Every day there would be a new punishment whether it was singing whilst getting beaten or reciting a prayer whilst being beaten. Each punishment was as horrific as the next. The repetition of the day’s events got the audience thinking ‘not again, when is it going to end?’ Maybe the audience got bored, but it makes you think about how these Jews were feeling. Every day knowing that you were going to get beaten and tortured. Towards the end I found myself feeling the pain that these helpless men were feeling, and I think that fact alone demonstrates how powerful this play was. I even felt a sense of relief when Hersh and Meusher got sent to the gas chamber. The ordeal was over; no more torture.
I think the aim of this production was to enable the audience to get an image in their heads of what life was like for these poor innocent Jews in Auschwitz concentration camp. In my opinion they succeeded. I think thy used basic acting techniques e.g. mime and the metal sheets to emphasise the suffering and torture that these people experienced. You really found yourself feeling for these helpless men. I personally really got taken back by this production and was amazed how effective it really was. I think my only criticism of the play was the fact that maybe we didn’t learn enough about the characters, which meant at times they felt like total strangers, yet we were moved when they were tortured and finally killed. The torture may have had an even bigger effect on the audience had we’d felt like we knew them. Overall I think this was a very successful production, you really did get a sense on how horrific Auschwitz concentration camp really was.