Interplayers’ ‘Taking Sides’ Never Does

“Taking Sides” Friday, April 7, Interplayers Ensemble

Did Berlin Philharmonic conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler collaborate with the Nazis from 1933 to 1945?

Ronald Harwood’s 1995 drama, “Taking Sides,” is supposed to be one of those shades-of-gray stories that refuses to insult the audience with a simple yes-or-no answer.

You might call this approach deep, nuanced and thoughtful. However, with a play as contrived as “Taking Sides,” you might just call it frustrating. I, personally, would like to know if Furtwangler toadied to the Nazis to keep his precious post. Based on this play, I don’t know, and there were times when I didn’t even care.

The Interplayers Ensemble’s production of “Taking Sides” has two major problems, and one of them is Harwood’s script, which consists not so much of people talking to each other, or even interrogating each other, but making long declamatory speeches at each other.

This play is set in an office in the American Zone in Berlin in 1946. A zealous American officer, Maj. Steve Arnold, is attempting to gather evidence against Maestro Furtwangler (who really did exist) as part of the de-Nazification proceedings. This, you would think, would be an unlikely place for people to stand up and suddenly embark on long speeches, but this is what happens far too often in Harwood’s script.

Harwood even devotes much of the final act of the play to what sounds very much like a trial of Furtwangler, complete with Maj. Arnold delivering thundering accusations while Lt. David Wills periodically jumps up and shouts, “Objection!”

The only trouble is, this is not a courtroom. There is no jury, no judge, nobody to try to convince (except those of us in the audience). I kept trying to figure out why Harwood would be staging this interrogation scene exactly as if it were a trial, when I eventually came to this unpleasant conclusion: So the characters can make even more speeches at each other.

With this kind of contrivance at the heart of the play, credibility flies out the window.

Which leads us to the other main problem: Maj. Steve Arnold. This character is as grating, vulgar and annoying as any David Mamet real-estate salesman, which would be fine if he were a Mamet real estate salesman. The man has a hopelessly foul mouth and a penchant for telling crude stories. In other words, he has a ‘90s kind of sensibility parading as a 1940s Army officer. Would an American officer in 1946 speak that way in an office, in front of a young woman, while conducting official and highly sensitive international business? Maybe I’ve got the Greatest Generation all wrong, but I don’t think so.

The other problem is one of casting. Keith Burkland is all wrong for this part. Maj. Arnold is the embodiment of vulgarity, not just in his language but in his utter disdain for the arts in general and classical music in particular. He insists on calling Europe’s greatest conductor a “bandleader,” and he lumps him in with some sleazeball sax player he once sent up the river for arson.

Yet Burkland doesn’t seem to have a vulgar bone in his body. His face, his expressions, his entire being seem to exude a quality more like gentleness. This is what made him so brilliant as the uncle in “How I Learned To Drive” last year. But in this role, his gentleness and grace work against him. Not to say he doesn’t give vulgarity and crudeness the old college try. But it always seems like acting, strenuous acting.

The rest of the cast is effective, especially Robert Welch, who does a dignified and stately turn as Maestro Furtwangler. He maintains his courtly composure under even the most petty provocations from Arnold, who treats him as if he were a young punk. Michael Black does an effective job as the far more sensitive co-interrogator, Lt. David Wills. Too bad Harwood never develops the character.

I don’t require a play to provide me with neat answers. But at least I want to be able to form an educated opinion. Was Furtwangler a resistance hero or a Nazi stooge? Based on “Taking Sides.” I have no way to take a side.

“Taking Sides” continues through April 29 at the Interplayers Ensemble. Call (509) 455-PLAY for tickets.