Way back in the Before Times, we learned that David Tennant was going to be appearing in a production of C.P. Taylor's 'Good', so, in February 2020 we booked tickets, to see the play in October 2020. For obvious reasons, that didn't happen - the play was postponed and we had new tickets for May 2021. And again, that didn't happen. However, the play was re-scheduled again, opening on 5th October, and so we re-booked, and on Saturday 15th October , headed to London for the performance.
I had a delay as the train I was booked on to was cancelled, but fortunately was able get the next train and still arrive just in time for lunch with my friends. It was a good lunch, and lovely to see friends.
The play is set in the period from 1933 to 1941, in Frankfurt, and features Professor of literature, John Halden, (Tennant) and his gradual move into Nazism, not through any conviction of it's merits but out of convenience.. joining the party to further his career, attracting the attention of senior Nazis by writing a novel which is supportive of euthanasia, as he struggles to cope with his mother's dementia, drifting deeper and deeper as he consistently makes the easy, rather than ethical, choices.
The other cast members are Eliot Levey (Who I last saw as Herr Shultz, in Cabaret) and Sharon Small, both of whom played multiple roles - Small playing Halder's wife, his mistress, his mother, and his SS mentor, Freddie, and Levey playing Halder's (Jewish) friend, Maurice, and a number of other roles, including a senior Nazi officer, and Freddie's wife. While Tennant is the star, and is of course the big name pulling in the crowds, both the others are excellent and have, I think, the more difficult job, having to constantly switch between multiple characters, with no changes in set or costume.
It is certainly not a cheerful play (although there is a delightful scene involving Tennant singing and dancing!) but is very good, and unhappily topical.
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| David Tennant - Photo from NT Live website |
After the show, we had a slight change of cast of our own, with one friend having to leave to catch a train, and another joining us, before we headed to Mere for wonderful food and cocktails.
It was a wonderful day (although sadly, the next day I started to feel unwell and tested positive for Covid, despite having had a negative LTF test before setting off to catch my train to London. I was fully masked on the trains and in the theatre, but not, obviously, in the restaurants, so can only hope I didn't pass it on to too many other patrons)
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