★★★★☆
Four Stars
Contemporary German theatre does not come to Oxford just any day, and if you are a fan of all things German, like me, you will enjoy the Oxford German Play. Die Frau von Früher, a minimal, thought-provoking piece of modern drama. A play about love, loss and lust, it will resonate with a wide audience. The Woman from the Past would also delight the diehard theatre buff as it boasts so many different layers of meaning.
Subtitles mean that you can see this production even if you don’t speak German. However, the level of language is rather basic and the dia- logue is very easy to follow if you know a bit of German. But at the same time there is so much to it. The suppressed feelings! The emotional manipulation! There are layers of symbolic meaning and hidden references to anything from Brecht to Ancient Greek drama that one can unravel.
This is not outright Brechtian theatre – the acting is naturalistic, and people do scream, cry and profess their love. But there are moments that are utterly bizarre and give you a creeping sense that something is going terribly wrong. Pieces of dialogue are repeated during jumps back and forth in time. False memories are implanted, and one never knows who is lying. Characters mirror each other beautifully, people break down and turn into their other. The sheer implausibility of the story makes one wonder whether it is all an allegory.
The story is of a family packing up to move to Canada, when the husband’s first love appears at the door and demands that he go back to her. A boringly harmonious domestic life is interrupted by a newcomer, and haunted by past guilt. The woman at the door is there to bring out the worst in everyone. The play uses the strategy of telling a minimal, domestic story to convey the idea that human nature is ultimately corrupted. The Woman from the Past is deliciously chilling, while resembling a soap opera on the surface.
All the actors deliver well and seem at ease in their role, though the best thing about The Woman from the Past is the script itself. The smoothly flowing interaction among the actors lets the play unfold of its own accord, and we focus on the meaning rather than on any single outstand- ing performance.
I ask the theatre group whether they would say that the piece is a love story or a thriller, and they unanimously answer, “It could be either.” It certainly is a thriller of a love story, fun to watch, scary, and very brainy too. The director promises a surprise ending, which I will certainly be there to see. Die Frau von Früher is an enjoyable and brainy piece of theatre, and whether you are a germanophile or not, you will enjoy it.
