Alfred's War

Review by: Paul Towers, 15 December 2017

Alfred’s War by Marilyn Reed

Upstairs @ The Western, Friday, 15 December 2017

“friend or foe? You decide.”

Alfred’s War is very much s till a work-in-progress and, as such, is not fully ready to be judged. However, while the staging, costumes and scenery are still absent it is fair to critique the overall story.

This story is based on real life events that occurred ten days before the liberation of Brussels in 1944 and were detailed in an oral testimony given in 1955.

A man, variously calling himself Alfred Adler or Philip Jansen is caught up in the final throes of the German occupation of Belgium.

Is he a collaborator with the Gestapo; or is he working with the Belgian Resistance; or maybe he is part of the Belgian Nationalists? Or maybe he is all or none of these things and just managing to survive Nazi ethnic cleansing the best he can.

The scene is set with some inventive projection of newsreel footage onto some of the hundreds of files used to investigate displaced persons after the war.

Alfred/Philip is being interrogated by the Allied forces and tells his story in flashback. Sometimes it seems he is almost caught out when the lies he has invented to protect himself unravel. Or are they even more protective deceptions. We are left largely to make our own minds up. Is he a friend or foe, traitor or facilitator? You decide.

Hopefully the finished production will tour in autumn 2018

Upstairs at The Western http://upstairsatthewestern.com/
First published on Western Gazette