OUR CLASS by Tadeusz Slobodzianek, translated by Ryan Craig, directed by Joel Greenberg (Studio 180/Canadian Stage). Berkeley Street Theatre (26 Berkeley). Opens tonight (Thursday, April 7) and runs to April 30, Monday-Saturday 8 pm, matinees Wednesday 1:30 pm and Saturday 2 pm. Pwyc-$49. 416-368-3110.
Sometimes stories refuse to be buried, rising up to haunt both teller and listener.
That’s the case with Our Class, Polish author Tadeusz Slobodzianek’s play suggested by an event in the town of Jedwabne during the Second World War. The town’s Jewish population was massacred in a horrific manner: neighbour turned against neighbour. A hard-hitting piece that has troubled audiences in Poland and elsewhere, the play begins with 10 schoolchildren, five Jewish and five Catholic, voicing their innocent plans for the future. Nearly 80 years later, the terrible actions of the play still resonate with the survivors and perpetrators.
“Jedwabne isn’t mentioned by name,” says actor Mark McGrinder, a founding member of Studio 180, which along with Canadian Stage presents the North American premiere of Our Class. “But, then, the piece isn’t meant to be a documentary. The events inspired the playwright, and he’s written a work with a universal ring.”
Combining direct address to the audience, traditional theatrical scenes and even some choral work, the script asks today’s audiences to consider how they would react to the kind of situation faced by the characters.
“It’s not so much about the event but how it affects us today,” nods Amy Rutherford, another of the performers. “There’s a collective guilt that follows from one generation to the next, not just in Poland but elsewhere.
“How, the play asks, do people cope with such an event, and how does it continue to be destructive?”
In fact, Our Class looks not just at the aftermath but also at the causes of hatred and violence.
“How can this group of children, so free and open with each other, end up where they do?” continues Rutherford. “Still, there’s no judgment of the characters we have the feeling that life goes on even as we look at the events and their causes.”
Rutherford plays Dora, a Jewish woman she characterizes as “a dreamer, a film-star-to-be. But she’s also strong and opinionated. She’s courted by the Catholic Rysiek, who loves her but understands, even at a young age, the divide between them. Eventually, he becomes one of the play’s more virulent anti-Semites.
“Instead, she married Menachem, a Jew who turns out to be a problematic husband.”
In contrast, McGrinder’s Wladek is a Catholic drawn to the Jewish Rachelka.
“In some ways he’s one of the more courageous characters, in terms of taking action when others don’t,” offers McGrinder. “But Wladek’s really an outsider, on the periphery of a group of violent guys. His action might be more self-serving than altruistic. What’s fascinating is that while his comments about the Jews are sometimes hateful, he still wants to save a Jewish woman.”
The play uses fictional characters to examine what happens when we define someone as “the other.” Unable to escape the consequences of their actions, they intend to implicate the audience in what we watch. It’s not easy to keep an emotional distance from the action when inactivity makes one as culpable as the murderers.
“Because the author doesn’t make judgments, I can’t predict how any one viewer will react to it,” admits Rutherford. “Some will see it as bleak and unrelenting, others as hopeful. It’s one of the strongest plays I’ve ever encountered.”
Interview Clips
Mark McGrinder’s changing reaction to the play:
jonkap@nowtoronto.com
