(Photo credit: Stephanie Gamba)
By: Darryl Reilly
“No one in my family was born of German blood, we are Jews.” So, replies the arrested Hannah Arendt to her German interrogator in playwright Jenny Lyn Bader’s absorbing historical drama, Mrs. Stern Wanders the Prussian State Library.
In 1933, 26-year-old German-born Arendt and her mother were arrested on a Berlin street and spent eight days in separate captivity. Arendt had a degree in philosophy and was conducting research at the Prussian State Library; she was denounced by a librarian for copying antisemitic materials for foreign distribution which was illegal under martial law, this was punishable by a long prison term or death. Upon release, Arendt fled Germany, and after a long road of exile arrived in New York City in 1941; she would become one of the 20th century’s most notable public intellectuals. “The banality of evil” was her epic, profound and enduring quote regarding the Nazis when reporting on Adolf Eichmann’s war crimes trial for The New Yorker. She died in 1975 at the age of 69.
Through her accomplished command of dramatic writing, Ms. Bader turns this factual incident into a stimulating and suspenseful 90-minute play in the classic genre of the accuser versus the accused while in a jail cell. The well-crafted dialogue crisply imparts Arendt’s biographical details (Stern was her estranged husband’s surname), the German politcal situation and the plight of the Jews. Crucially, Bader creates two full-fledged loquacious characters; we get an authentic philosophizing youthful Arendt, and a true believer young Nazi who is nonetheless swayed by facts and is sympathetic to Arendt; he gives the chain-smoking Arendt cigarettes. Here, Bader depicts the benignity of evil.
The sleek, wide-eyed and animated Ella Dershowitz employs a plummy, slightly accented authoritative vocal tone for her rich characterization of Arendt. Ms. Dershowitz gives those familiar with Arendt an ideal histrionic portrait of her. Lean, boyish and soulful Brett Temple’s by the book German police inspector is the perfect foil for Dershowitz; their rapport is palpable during their eloquent interactions. Clad in a uniform, Mr. Temple’s swaggering performance dazzles as he sincerely tosses off Nazi talking points conjoined with logic in his expressive tenor voice. Bespectacled, bearded and personable Drew Hirshfield wonderfully pops up as a wily Zionist lawyer to aid Arendt, and to provide outside world exposition.
Director Ari Laura Kreith’s physical staging artfully relies on swiftness and realism, as the actors are perpetually moved around the set for visual variance. Scenic designer Lauren Helpern’s airy off-white jail cell is set with a table and chairs; high rectangular windows with shadowy prison bars queasily register the gravity of Arendt’s situation. Cameron Filepas’ lighting design is of steady muted brightness with periodic dim, near blackouts connoting days going by. Nearby inmates’ offstage harrowing screams is the prime feature of Megan Culley’s bracing sound design. Arendt’s lustrous black ensemble, the accurate German military uniform, and the lawyer’s high-class suit, are hallmarks of Deborah Caney’s ace costume design.
Mrs. Stern Wanders the Prussian State Library dramatizes a pivotal event in Hannah Arendt’s life with engaging theatricality.
Mrs. Stern Wanders the Prussian State Library (through November 10, 2024)
Luna Stage
59E59 Theaters, 59 East 59th Street, in Manhattan
For tickets, visit www.lunastage.org
Running time: 90 minutes with no intermission Due to critical and audience enthusiasm, the play began a subsequent Off-Broadway engagement at the WPA Theater on December 10, running until January 12, 2025.