I got called back to two plays so I am going to write about those two since I will read them before the callbacks.
The first is Judgment at Nuremberg by Abby Mann. This is a 2002 adaptation of Mann's script from the 1961 film script, itself and adaptation of his 1959 teleplay written for Playhouse 90. the film was a great success and is one I enjoy watching and one I own, I would love to see the live Playhouse 90 version but that is difficult to find. The film was nominated for 11 oscars and won two for Best Screenplay (Mann) and Best Actor (Maximilian Schell). Its praise and reputation are well deserved.
The play is a truncated version of the film. All of the main scenes and speeches are there. A few slight changes have been made. The Play concerns the last of the Nuremberg Trials, which were held to decide the guilt of the officials of the Nazi regime: the trial of the Third Reich's Judiciary. This trial, while probably the most important in terms of its moral and societal ramifications, came late in the process and with the uneasy alliance between the U.S.S.R. and the U.S.A. coming apart, the public's weariness of the trials, and Germany's support needed at the onset of the Cold War, they were thought to be less important than the earlier trials of Speer, Goring and Hess. Thus efforts were made to rush to judgment and for leniency.
The play outlines the brilliant and complex defense that was put forth by a young German lawyer, whose efforts to make the entire world complicit in the rise of the Third Reich, are noteworthy and contain powerful polemics. The speeches of all of the main characters are all wonderfully written and moving to read. This is one of those plays that I like so much, I don't want to talk about but rather wish to instill in anyone who reads this with a desire to read it and find out for yourselves,
One of the changes from film to stage I like most is the change of race of the young adjutant officer assigned to Main Judge. In the film he is played by a young William Shatner, On stage the character is African-American and when he is asked whether he feels the Germans capable of evils as vile as the Holocaust, his answer is telling and poignant. A welcome addition.
In conclusion, I can say one should read this script. Or see the film. Or both. It will be time well spent.
The first is Judgment at Nuremberg by Abby Mann. This is a 2002 adaptation of Mann's script from the 1961 film script, itself and adaptation of his 1959 teleplay written for Playhouse 90. the film was a great success and is one I enjoy watching and one I own, I would love to see the live Playhouse 90 version but that is difficult to find. The film was nominated for 11 oscars and won two for Best Screenplay (Mann) and Best Actor (Maximilian Schell). Its praise and reputation are well deserved.
The play is a truncated version of the film. All of the main scenes and speeches are there. A few slight changes have been made. The Play concerns the last of the Nuremberg Trials, which were held to decide the guilt of the officials of the Nazi regime: the trial of the Third Reich's Judiciary. This trial, while probably the most important in terms of its moral and societal ramifications, came late in the process and with the uneasy alliance between the U.S.S.R. and the U.S.A. coming apart, the public's weariness of the trials, and Germany's support needed at the onset of the Cold War, they were thought to be less important than the earlier trials of Speer, Goring and Hess. Thus efforts were made to rush to judgment and for leniency.
The play outlines the brilliant and complex defense that was put forth by a young German lawyer, whose efforts to make the entire world complicit in the rise of the Third Reich, are noteworthy and contain powerful polemics. The speeches of all of the main characters are all wonderfully written and moving to read. This is one of those plays that I like so much, I don't want to talk about but rather wish to instill in anyone who reads this with a desire to read it and find out for yourselves,
One of the changes from film to stage I like most is the change of race of the young adjutant officer assigned to Main Judge. In the film he is played by a young William Shatner, On stage the character is African-American and when he is asked whether he feels the Germans capable of evils as vile as the Holocaust, his answer is telling and poignant. A welcome addition.
In conclusion, I can say one should read this script. Or see the film. Or both. It will be time well spent.
RSS Feed