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WITH: James Naughton (Willy Brandt), Richard Thomas (Günter Guillaume), Michael
Cumpsty (Arno Kretschmann), Robert Prosky (Herbert Wehner), Richard Masur (Horst
Ehmke), Terry Beaver (Reinhard Wilke), Julian Gamble (Ulrich Bauhaus), John Dossett
(Helmut Schmidt), John Christopher Jones (Hans-Dietrich Genscher) and Lee Wilkof
(Günther Nollau).
Sets by Peter J. Davison; costumes by Sue Willmington; lighting by Mark Henderson
The National Theater of Great Britain's production
At the Brooks Atkinson Theater, 256 West 47th Street, Manhattan. Running time 2 hours 30
minutes.
This is the second play I ever saw in both London and new York. In London I found myself
respecting the story woven from history. In New York I found myself waiting for something to
happen.
I don’t know if it’s because this is written by a Brit who has a natural ear for the music of his
language, or if this is just a slow talky and nearly plotless piece of writing. The Brits don’t mind this so
much. They like words. Their plays are nearly three hours long, and no one leaves at intermission
over there. I like words too, but I like them to lead me somewhere.
This is the story of a spy working in the office of Willy Brandt in the 1960’s. Only he was a “good
spy” because he was from East Germany and he wanted Brandt’s march toward reunification to
succeed. Still, when it was discovered, it was embarrassing in the extreme and helped to remove
Brandt from office.
As it is presented here, though, there is no sense of the tension or risk that this man was living. As
played by Richard Thomas, his was a life that thrilled and interested him, but was not particularly
dangerous. Now, we are not talking high stakes espionage here, but even we could have used a little
conflict here and there. Something to make us sit up and wonder what was going to happen next. It
just didn't happen.
The one character who seemed to care what happened was Herbert Wehner (Robert Prosky) who was
the leader of the party and had a lot to lose if Brandt screwed up. And Brandt, as played by James
Naughton was as dull as dull can be. He is described as a man who loves wine, jokes and women. He
hardly drank, his jokes were flat and we never see the women.
The rest of the cast just doesn’t have a lot to do except stride on and off the stage, depositing
directives and exchanging low toned pieces of advice. We never see the fight they are leading, the
stakes they are wagering or the rules they are breaking as they turn the corner on bringing Germany
together and into the world community. We hear about it. But the action seems to happen off stage,
where the audience is not.