Our Class at the National

I haven't been blogging much because there hasn't been much to relate until now. I have blogged recently about how wonderful the National Theatre is in terms of production values and important theatrical work it puts up. Today I saw Our Class in their black box theatre. It was one of the most powerful shows I have ever seen. Now, I'm only twenty, but this show reminded me of why I want to be an actor and moreover why theatre is so important to human society.

Our Class takes place in the 1930s in Poland and documents a group of classmates, both Polish and Jewish, through WWII through to the present day. The show was presented in the round and used no set except chairs that surrounded the stage. For those who saw Cleveland Public Theatre's Our Town the set up was very similar. Each individual character's story was presented mostly through monologues, as if they were recalling their experiences and while you may think it was distracting from the reality of the show it wasn't at all. I found the three hour production to be absolutely mesmerizing.

Our Class begins with each "child" (all of the characters played by adults) stating what they want to be when they grow up - a soldier, a teacher, a movie star, etc. Quickly the story shifts to the Red Army invading Poland. The divide between the Poles and the Jews becomes quite evident with Poles blaming the Jews for supporting the Red Army. The unified class of innocent children was immediately beginning to fracture.

Most of the first act described a pogrom that happened in this small town before the invasion of the Nazis. A Jewish classmate was framed for "selling out" his classmates who were arresting for organizing an underground Polish Resistance Army. He was killed by his classmates and by the real informant to the Red Army (a classmate as well). Another Jewish classmate, who was married to her Jewish classmate, was raped by these same classmates before being taken to the public square with other Jews from the town. She was told, as were all the Jews in the square, that they would be sent to the ghetto tomorrow but had to stay in a tiny barn overnight. Like many Jews in towns during that time, they were stuffed into a barn that was set on fire.

Two classmates were hid by other Polish classmates. One, a girl, was immediately converted to Catholicism and married to her classmate after finding out she was the only one left of her family.

I have given away most of the plot, but not entirely. The play is not really about the horrors of the WWII. While it does not spare any details about rape and how Jews were slaughtered and then thrown into pits, this play is so tragic because we see how a class of peers was torn a part from each other. But what's most depressing is we see how these early actions effect these characters for their entire lives. When at times the we begin to think that maybe there is hope after these tragedies, the realities of what these teenagers experienced stays with them forever. We don't necessarily see remorse from the murderers in the first act. I think it would be too sentimental if we did. What we see is a convoluted web of feelings of betrayal, loyalty, and history.

What I love about this play is it doesn't blame one "side" or the other, in fact, there are no "sides" and nothing is ever black or white. It also depressingly shows how one night effects a group of once happy peers for their entire life. One classmate becomes a priest but on his death bed is haunted by the classmate he killed and the other he raped. One, a woman who hid her Jewish classmate goes to America to only be confused by being praised for saving Jews, hated for saving Jews, and lost for not knowing what to think or feel.

I was in an emotional state for most of this show. With each ending of each character's life I saw how there is no resolution to the problem, no redemption for confessing to the truth, for saving a Jew, and for trying to persecute those who murdered their classmates.

The only hope found in this play was through the one classmate who left Poland in 1937 for America. Through his story we find hope for the future amidst the confusion of seeing his classmates turn against each other, deceive him, and see his guilt for surviving. There are two defining moments in his speeches - one where he finds out through a letter that all the Jews of his town were burned in a barn. He recites the names of all the family he lost - concluding that he is the only one left. He then ends the play by reciting all of his children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren.

I haven't yet fully come to understand this play besides that it is unbelievably powerful. But what sticks with me is not just the horror of each account described but how each character cannot escape what they experienced and how through the decades they live with this pain, confusion, guilt, and betrayal. It's a wonderful metaphor - a class divided by a war. It shows how war can so easily tear the ties of human connection and so quickly and effectively torture the humanity within people. In fact, war dividing the class is the only true distinct division within the play. It's the only real "truth" that can be deduced from the play - everything else - loyalties, guilt, feelings are all ambiguous and constantly changing. What remains is a huge sense of loss because nothing is ever "fixed" no matter how hard people try or don't try to repent, make amends, or seek revenge. The "truth" and the actions cannot be remedied.

I would see this show again and again. But I would bring tissues next time.

Our Class at the National Theatre