Review of Hannah and Martin

reviewed by Rick Reed
Windy City Times
5/14/03

Hannah and Martin, the world premiere that closes Timeline Theatre Company’s season, marks the emergence of an important new voice in American theater: Kate Fodor. If this first play is any indication, Fodor will eventually take her place alongside some of this country’s best dramatists.

Fodor has taken some highly intellectual stuff, the relationship between Jewish political theorist Hannah Arendt and Nazi-aligned philosopher Martin Heidegger, and woven it into a powerful, emotionally charged commentary on not only the horrors of the Holocaust, but also the difficulties of human connection in the face of vast political differences. With a skill that belies that this is a debut effort, Fodor masterfully limns the relationship between the couple. Taking us from Germany’s Marburg University in 1924, when Arendt became first Heidegger’s student, and then his lover, through the years of World War II, when Arendt fled Germany, first to France and then the United States, to a denouement in which Arendt has become a respected professor herself and Heidegger a bitter and pained old man, shunned by the world, Fodor charts a course of passion, controversy, rage, and finally, a realization that it is not always easy to condemn, because even in the face of the vilest atrocities, nothing is ever black and white. And that is the conundrum that lies at the heart of the play: how does one choose between someone who has mentored her and yet been a part of a regime that would seek to destroy her? And can Arendt, or anyone, ever answer such a question. Heidegger himself posits to his young pupil, at the plays’ beginning: “Questions are to be asked, not necessarily answered.”

Sometimes, a theater company has the good taste to select an excellent a script, which TimeLine has done, but has neither the resources nor the skill to bring it to affecting life. Happily, that is not the case here. TimeLine, under Jeremy B. Cohen’s deft direction, has crafted a remarkable production that is economical, yet rich in creativity and craft. Elizabeth Rich, who carries the heavy weight of Hannah on her shoulders, brings the plays’ thesis to life astonishingly, crafting a believable woman who goes from an impressionable young girl to a decisive intellectual. Rich’s performance is wholly realized and gripping, forcing us to confront the questions Arendt herself must have so painfully encountered throughout her adult life. As Heidegger, David Parkes is also compelling, demonstrating how a mind can be brilliant and at the same time embrace concepts that can revolt. The remainder of the ensemble displays powerful range, and better, truth. Brian Sydney Bembridge’s scenic and lighting design is perfectly complementary and evocative: understated and tasteful, his simple design perfectly underscores the action on stage, never calling attention to itself, but always a versatile backdrop.

Hannah and Martin challenges, entertains, enlightens. It is a nearly flawless theatrical experience.