Beyond redemption
By KAREN SHADE World Scene Writer
03/27/2006
'Hannah and Martin' explores relationship of a Nazi and his Jewish lover
Only a few pages into the script of "Hannah and Martin," Julie Tattershall was intrigued.
A lifelong philosophy student, she had heard of Martin Heidegger, knew of his reputation as the brilliant but controversial philosopher whose early writings have been tainted by his later affiliation with the Nazi Party.
But Tattershall knew little about Hannah Arendt, a Jewish-German writer and political theorist who, as a student, helped type Heidegger's hallmark work, "Sein und Zeit" ("Being and Time").
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George Romero (left), Andy Axewell and Susan Dergoul star in Heller Theatre's production of "Hannah and Martin."
STEPHEN PINGRY / Tulsa World
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Tattershall, Heller Theatre's artistic director, got a rare opportunity last year to choose the play she would direct during the theater's 2005-06 season.
She made her choice after reading Hannah's monologue on the second page of Kate Fodor's script.
"The very first monologue is pretty incredible," Tattershall said, flipping through the text to find and recite it:
" 'This is the question: If the hand you take is one stretched out for help, what then? (Is it) a sin to take it or a sin to refuse?'
"That's very powerful."
The question of how far
an individual can go before becoming beyond redemption is at the heart of the play.
"What's the greater sin -- to help or to deny? He followed the Nazi movement, he helped create it, and she's Jewish," Tattershall said.
George Romero will play Arendt and Andy Axewell will play Heidegger when Heller Theatre opens "Hannah and Martin" on Thursday night.
"This is not a play about the Holocaust. This is a play about being able to think for one's self," Romero said.
Fodor based much of the play, which premiered off-Broadway two years ago, on published correspondence between the fallen scholar and his former student and lover.
Arendt was a 19-year-old university student when she began working with Heidegger. He was her mentor, and they later had a long-running affair until Arendt fled Germany with her family as the Nazis took power.
The play is told through Arendt's perspective, as she covers the Nuremburg trials for The New Yorker. After a lot of soul-searching, she decides to help Heidegger, who in the aftermath of World War II could not find a job or a publisher for his works.
Arendt's compassion is the heart of her character. But Heidegger, at least in this play, never fully understands the consequences of his participation in the party.
"He thought the 'Jewish question' was beside the point. Well, when you make someone -- as Hannah Arendt said -- when you make a whole group of people 'beside the point,' that's the first step to annihilating them. It makes it OK to denigrate and separate them and make them less than human, but Heidegger doesn't get that," Tattershall said.
Tattershall and Romero started working together when Romero was 15 and a student in Tattershall's creative writing class. The relationship evolved from that of teacher-mentor to a friendship between colleagues.
Romero credits her former teacher for directing her in her first "real" play, "Trespasses" in 1997 at Heller. Now, as she prepares to move to Los Angeles, the ex-protege feels as if everything has come full circle, with Tattershall as her director again.
Tattershall said she needed the actress cast as Hannah to understand the play. Romero immediately came to mind.
"She could play the innocence of Hannah and also the maturity of a woman looking back at her mistakes and the passion behind it," Tattershall said.
"There are a lot of layers in this play. You've got the layer of student-teacher, you've got the layer of two brilliant philosophers. You've got the layer of the nature of evil. You have the layer of why do we exist?" Tattershall said.
Karen Shade 581-8334
karen.shade@tulsaworld.com
Theater
“Hannah and Martin”
When:8 p.m. Thursday-Saturday, 2 p.m. April 2, 8 p.m. April 6-8 and 7 p.m. April 9.
Where:Heller Theatre, 5328 S. Wheeling Ave.
Admission:$8 general, $6 students and seniors Heller Theatre will host speakers for discussions with the audience after shows scheduled April 7-8. Other talk-back sessions may be scheduled for other performance dates. For more, call 746-5065 or go online to hellertheatre.com.
This site sponsored by Heller Theatre Council.
To contact the webmaster e-mail alb74066@aol.com or Heller Theatre at Parktheater@ci.tulsa.ok.us
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