The Pianist
Adapted and directed by Thom Southerland from book by Wldyslaw Szpilman
Music by Wladyslaw Szpilman
Park Theatre (Park 200)
Star rating 4
I arrived at Park Theatre for this show with a completely open mind. I have not read Szpilman’s 1946 memoir which became, in translation a world wide bestseller at the turn of the millennium, or seen Roman Polanski’s 2002 film which it inspired. Neither had I heard a note of his music or seen any of the staged readings/workshops which led to this production. So I learned a great deal in the two hours’ traffic of The Pianist.
In a nutshell: Born in 1911, Szpilman was a talented, highly esteemed Polish pianist and composer who worked for the Polish Broadcasting Company. All his family were trained musicians. After the German invasion in 1939 they were hounded as Jews and all except Wladyslaw were sent east to the extermination camps. He owed his survival to luck, some help from Poles and a sympathetic German.
Thom Southerland, who has worked closely with Szpilman’s composer son Andreas on this project, has staged it with a magnificent cast of actor musicians who play the Szpilman family members and become the soundtrack. He moves them round the stage so that the pace never flags but there’s no sense of fussiness. I really liked the shapes and links this creates – especially the subtlety and camaderie of two people playing a cello or double bass with one bowing or plucking and the other fingering the notes. There’s some pleasing singing too – songs by various lyricists to Szpilman’s music,
At the centre of it all are two great strengths. First there’s Daniel Krikler as Wladyslaw, initially and finally addressing the audience with warmth and wit (especially on Press night when there was a false start because of technical fault) but he also conveys fear, anxiety and despair though nervous tics and richly expressive hand movements. He’s totally convincing and an accomplished commander of the stage.
The other tour de force is Malcolm Forbes-Peckham in tails at a centre stage baby grand (it moves around on a wheeled dais). He takes over from Kirkler, who doesn’t play until the very end and then it’s only a few notes. Forbes-Peckham, who is also the show’s musical director, conducting the ensemble when necessary, plays splendidly, making sure that we appreciate the quality of Szpilman’s music to the full. We also get a strong sense of Szpilman’s power as a pianist when Forbes-Peckham reaches a full performance of Chopin’s virtuosic Nocturne in C Minor towards the end of Act 2.
Andrzej Goulding’s spare set is effective too. The stage is bare in front of massive, grey sliding doors which represent the walls of the ghetto, the closing train doors and more. Onto this Goulding projects images such as music manuscript and at one point, when Szpilman is hiding in a burning building, fire creeps menacingly across the stave
Yes, there’s poignancy here – and tragedy – but it never never sinks to sentimentality and it’s leavened with hope and love. People help Szpilman, at great risk to themselves. Hosenfeld (Oliver Grant – good), the German soldier, is especially moving because he represents the triumph of decency over escalating evil and that’s a pretty powerful and timeless message.
Photograph: Rich Southgate
