Counter Culture

Hitler Alone ****

Venue 257

Interlingua, 29 Hanover Street

21-26 August

Reviewed by David Kerr

This year seems to be the season for one-man-shows about monstrous dictators. Choose between Mussolini at the Hill Street Thratre and his protégé and successor Adolf Hitler at Venue 28.

The scene is set in the doomed fuehrer’s bunker a few hours before his death as the Red Army battles for control of Berlin. The simple stage in a tiny room draws out that bunker-like sense of claustrophobia. In front of a huge swastika banner, sits a single chair and a small table on which sits a framed picture of Hitler’s mother.

Paul Weston’s Hitler rants and raves, then calms down for a bit as he recalls some of his triumphs and disasters. At times, Weston’s Hitler comes across as vunerable and human; the rest of the time as the demonic monster of legend.

Webster’s intense performance is chillingly mesmerising and even at times sympathetic as the Great Dictator walks out the door to meet his final destiny.

**** four stars