Killed by his conscience

Plea for life: Lucinda Millward as one of the friends trying to convince Mel Raido (Franz) to save himself
10 April 2012

Classicists, a dying breed, will know that the word "martyr", denoting another dying breed, comes from the Ancient Greek for "witness".

Martyrdom then is the subject of this fascinating play from Joshua Sobol, which offers a lesson in the nobility and stupidity of self-sacrifice.

Sobol, most famous for the international hit Ghetto, wrote IWitness in 2002 amid an outbreak of conscientious objection in his native Israel.

The objector at its centre is Franz Jaggerstatter, an Austrian citizen beheaded by the Nazis in 1943 for refusing to serve.

Sobol's play sees Mel Raido's haunted Franz on Death Row, got up like Jesus, scrubbing pans and cleaning toilets, determined to die and to resist persuasion.

It's hard to make such intransigence interesting, and sure enough tedium sets in early on as various reasonable parties - friends, family, clergy - protest in vain against Franz's initially vague convictions.

It gets better, though. Flashbacks break the monotony and, as you'd expect, Raido eventually summons up some stirring anti-Nazi rhetoric: a bit of it, rather wonderfully, in rap. More interestingly still, the focus begins to shift from Franz's heroism to his abnormality.

Lucy Millward's creepily crisp prison doctor speaks of "martyromania" - and we do see an unhealthy spirit in Franz. There is a wildness in his cocksure charisma, a destructiveness in his rejection of nonviolent co-operation and an inhumanity in his abandonment of his young child (an adorable, if manipulative, turn from poppet Natalia Tatarka).

He's the kind of glorious obstinate that Sophocles specialised in back in the day. Here, of course, there's no traditional twist of fate to crystallise Franz's folly. He dies exactly as expected, and for all that we pity his end, the play remains more of an exploration than a drama.

Yet Michael Ronen's edgy production - all blinking neon and oppressive-sound effects - highlights some magical moments along the way, and there are fine performances, notably from Richard Atwill who doubles as friend and priest to our hero.

Until 27 January (0870 4000 838)

IWitness
Finborough Theatre
Finborough Road, SW10 9ED

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