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Press, 2 March 1982, Page 19

Adolf -Hitler, the most hated man of the century, is finally having his say. From his lips, Londoners are learning the reasons behind his regime’s maniacal slaughter of six million Jews. The Jews’ record, he sheers, was no better than his. 'lThe, Fuehrer, grey, bearded, and 90 years old, appears on the stage of the Mermaid Theatre, London, nightly in the form of the actor, Alec McCowen, in what is probably the season’s most powerful piece of drama — and certainly the most controversial. - iThe climax of the play is a 25-minute monologue in which ' McCowen, with that

familiar forelock dangling over the wild, staring eyes, defends his Third Reich on charges of genocide. It is a riveting performance that critics have hailed as a tour de force, “One of the greatest pieces of acting I have ever seen,” said Michael Billington, in the “Guardian.” “As thrillingly sustained a piece of chilling theatre as you will find,” wrote Jack tinker in the “Daily Mail.” “Dazzling. cerebral theatre,” said Milton Shulman in the “Standard.” The play. "The Portage to San Cristobal of A.H.,” was written by Christopher Hampton from a novel by

George Steiner. The premise is that the Nazi leader did not die in his Berlin bunker in May, 1945, but — as has often been rumoured with total lack of evidence — was spirited away to refuge in the South American jungles. After 37 years, he is finally tracked down by a group of Jewish Nazi-hunters and taken back towards civilisation for trial. As they struggle through the jungle, doubts arise. Since Hitler is legally dead, could he be tried? Could tbe Israelis, who did not exist as a nation in 1945, have any status in the trial? Would it not be better for Hitler to meet with an unfor-

tunate “accident” instead ... Eventually, the Fuehrer’s captors decide to' try him themselves, in the jungle, and it is at this point that McCowen — who has had practically nothing to say until then — launches into his electric diatribe. There’s not a nation on earth, he says, whose record in humanity makes it fit to sit in judgement on “A.H.” McCowen himself describes the part as the most stimulating he has ever tackled: he was delighted with tbe first-night audience reaction.

“For once I am glad that the audience hated me,” he said. “We had no idea what tbe reaction would be, but they listened wonderfully. “The object of the play is to assault people and I believe the theatre should do that much more often. It is daring of the Mermaid to do it at this time because the West End is full of comedies and thrillers which are playing so safe. “I have refused to do the speech on television or radio. Only in the theatre do you get the feeling of danger.”

By

JAMES SHRIMPTON,

A.A.P., from London