On November 9 to 10, 1938, Nazi and civilian Germans wreaked devastation on Jewish neighbourhoods, destroying synagogues, businesses and homes. Many Jews were killed; thousands were taken to camps; all were robbed of their possessions.
The opening scene of You Will Not Play Wagner, a new play by Victor Gordon, is a cacophonous immersion into Kristallnacht (Night of The Broken Glass) with sounds of panic and destruction accompanying a back wall abstract projection of newsprint, faces, debris and fire.
The action proper begins in Israel, in a hotel room, in around 2000, mere days before the final of a prestigious competition for classical conductors. Wealthy patron and holocaust survivor, Esther (Annie Byron) is in discussion with organiser Morris (Tim McGarry) about the finalists, ecstatic that there is a promising Israeli, dismayed that there is also a German. When they receive the list of final pieces chosen by conductors they are horrified to learn that the Israeli, Ya’akov (Benedict Wall) has selected the reviled, anti-semitic and implicitly banned Wagner.
Read the review by Rita Bratovich about the play on the City Hub.