Review: David Tennant in Good at the Harold Pinter Theatre
So the Harold Pinter Theatre is definitely not in Bristol, but having seen Good in London this week, it is definitely worth giving it a mention.
In all honesty, the main draw for this play was seeing David Tennant live on stage. When booking, I had absolutely no idea what the play was about. In the time that followed, I had a casual Google about the story. But, I’ve also got to a point where I enjoy seeing theatre that I have absolutely no idea about. It’s much more exciting when you don’t know where the story is heading.
CP Taylor’s Good, shows us how human rights atrocities are committed when weak people don’t say no. When they are flattered. When they don’t have strong enough principles. When their own copies of banned books are allowed to be secretly kept whilst everyone else’s are burned.
Tennant plays John Halder, a professor, an archetypal ‘good’ man who ends up being a key part of Nazi atrocities through a plausible career progression. At each stage, he quietly rationalises each decision he makes – from the forced Euthanasia of disabled people, the Night of the Broken Glass, to Auschwitz.
Good is gripping. It’s highly focused on the main three actors, playing almost all of the characters between them, in a very small set. I’d already guessed the purpose of this after a life time of watching movies with a final twist.
The direction, however, is fab. The story has hard jumps from scene to scene. Sharon Small jumping from Halder’s senile mother, to the wife, the other woman, the Nazi officer.
The Jewish input comes from Halder’s affable friend Maurice, played by Elliot Levey
Being part of the disabled community, sinister elements of the story always feels within touching distance. And, in a time where British politics has been at its most volatile, this feels like a pertinent play for 2022.
Good is at the Harold Pinter Theatre until Saturday 24 December 2022. Director Dominic Cooke, might have ruined the Drinking Song from The Student Prince forever, but David Tennant shines in the intense piece. You’ll even get a chance to hear him sing.
For more information or to chance your luck with limited tickets, visit: https://www.haroldpintertheatre.co.uk/
