Berlin, January 1942. Fifteen senior officials are summoned to a conference at a sumptuous villa in leafy, lakeside Wannsee. In 90 minutes the obscene horror of the Holocaust will be unleashed and the fate of over six million human souls will be decided. Strawmoddie and RFT return to the Fringe with a remount of their 2018 sell-out production of Mandel’s theatrical adaptation of his Emmy-winning HBO script. Based on surviving minutes of the conference, Conspiracy is a work whose relevance remains unquestioned. A unique portrait of mankind’s darkest hour made all the more hideous for its breathtaking banality.
Would you mind giving us a brief insight into what your show is?
Conspiracy is the theatrical adaption of the 2001 film of the same name for which the author Loring Mandel won an Emmy Award. The play chronicles in real time the infamous Wannsee Conference of January 1942. This is the meeting which sealed the ultimate fate of over six million Jews and other minorities singled out by the Nazi regime.
Tell us about the creative team and the process involved?
Our team is composed of roughly half the cast and crew of our original production of this play in 2018. At that time it was produced by RFT whose experience previously had been exclusively new writing. This time RFT have combined with Strawmoddie, pooling our resources, contacts and experience to produce what we hope will be an evolution from our first production. The subject matter naturally requires some research from our actors who are all playing real historical personalities. Naturally, there is some emotional fatigue attached to portraying fundamentally bigoted people. However, we are anxious that these characters should be properly fleshed out and where our actors cannot (and should not) identify with them, we must seek an understanding of them.
How does it feel coming to the Fringe?
RFT and Strawmoddie are both Edinburgh-based, grass-roots companies and so Edinburgh Fringe theatre is something we are a part of all year round. When it comes to the Fringe festival itself, it’s always a privilege to be that part of Edinburgh that is here to welcome the rest of the world to our city. As Edinburgh residents, we understand the inconvenience the festival brings to daily life but we would not be without it.
There are over 3,000 shows at the Fringe. So, what sets your show apart?
Our show is a portrayal of a historical document, a biography of an event which should not be forgotten. There is an enduring interest in art depicting the Holocaust and the terrible privations of the victims, and they are important viewing in themselves. What sets Conspiracy apart is the angle it takes, portraying a crime from the point of view of the perpetrators, with the victims entirely absent from the scene, almost abstract. Rather than asking the audience to identify and empathise with the victims, we want them to consider what it is to be complicit in murder on this scale. It is nothing less than chilling.
Is there anything specific you’re hoping the audience will take away?
We hope our audiences will leave the show a little more informed on the circumstances leading to the Holocaust. We want them to be struck by the casualness, the banality (to use Hannah Arendt’s term) of the event. A boardroom like this is still the setting where so many of our fates are decided by a privileged, detached group of people. We hope to make it clear that a genocide like this does not just happen; it takes active, systematic planning by a few, and quiet complicity from the many. While the play is about one specific moment in history, we hope that it will push audiences to reflect on similar events before and since. It is easy to say “Never again” about the evils of eighty years ago, but what are we doing to make that promise a reality in our own time?
Your ideal audience is in attendance, who’s watching? Or more importantly – who isn’t there…
We welcome almost anyone. We don’t wish to entertain anyone who has a positive spin on the Nazis or anyone holding the erroneous opinion that the Holocaust was faked. We don’t anticipate having to deal with any such people, but there is always a possibility. There was some disturbing commentary on some of our promotional material for our previous production; but it seems among the adherents of the Nazi position there are not many theatre-goers. Perhaps theatre requires too much self-reflection and the ability to empathise with those different from ourselves.
It’s an intense month, so where you’re able, how do you plan to relax, and are there any other shows you intend to see or want to recommend?
Once again, as Edinburgh residents many of us will be maintaining full-time jobs alongside our performances. We will likely retire to the nearest, emptiest pub for debriefs and relaxation. We will be primarily supporting the work of other Edinburgh-based companies and artists
In your ideal world, how can we improve the Fringe, of performance, and the industry?
One area I think could improve things for performers and companies who are operating without significant funds is for reviewers to pay closer attention to the work we are doing.
I hear a lot of people complaining that the Fringe is over-commercialised and the spirit of free expression and the explosion of new work and new talent that used to be the hallmark of the Fringe is gone. I think this is partly because so much media attention at the Fringe is directed towards those whose career is already established and whose shows tend to sell out without media assistance. Pay more attention to the underdogs and the Fringe can be that proving ground once again. There has also been a dramatic increase in ticket prices over the last few years; even five years ago, many shows were priced well under £10, and it was easy to take a chance on an a completely unknown company. Sometimes they’d be terrible, sometimes they’d be the best thing you saw all festival. With so many tickets priced around £25-30 now, the fun of chance discoveries which made the Fringe so alive is hugely depleted.
Interested in being featured on our Have a Gander page? With many previews and Q&As lined up, we’re always happy to chat about including your show in future articles. Please do get in touch through the contact page to feature in an upcoming ‘Have A Gander’