History of Nazism in Good Play

   The National Theatre broadcast this play to a number of cinemas nationwide. Let's face it the good people of Worthing would never see a play by a left-winger (C P Taylor) any other way!

   The main role is played by David Tennant as Professor Halder, a professor of literature who ends up taking part in book-burning to make the university 'pure German.'

   Other parts are played by Elliot Levey and Sharon Small. Their work is excellent because they have to play a number of characters and convince the audience. No mean feat.

   The play is a look inside Halder's mind. He initially joins the Nazi Party to further his career. It certainly does that because all Jewish academics are hounded out of their jobs.

  He then presents a thesis to the Nazi Party on the "Right to Die" which is very topical. The Nazis were very generous with the "Right to Die" and extended it to anyone, starting with the disabled but taking in Jews, communists, homosexuals and trade unionists.

   His only male friend is his doctor who is Jewish. Halder leaves him to his fate and even justifies that to himself saying "The Jews brought this on themselves."

   At every point Halder is haunted by music as a kind of audio hallucination until at the end he is face to face with the orchestra at Auschwitz where his ideas on the right to die are being put into practice and the musicians are there to lull the prisoners into a false sense of security. He sees this as making the holocaust "more humane".

   When "Good" comes to your local cinema, it is well worth watching.