The Lives of Others review: Art vs Socialism

MARY CONWAY surveys a highly commercial rendition of The Lives of Others, Florian Donnersmark’s depiction of state surveillance under socialism

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“YOU know what Lenin said about Beethoven’s Appassionata: ‘If I keep listening to it, I won’t finish the revolution’.” Thus speaks playwright Georg Dreyman in Florian Henckel Von Donnersmarck’s The Lives of Others currently showing at the Adelphi Theatre.

While these may not be Lenin’s exact words, they certainly capture the spirit of his thinking and, more importantly, the dilemma he faced. For he realised then that, in succumbing to the power and tender beauty of the arts, he jeopardised the hard, unflinching, political purpose required to establish socialism. And it is this conflict that drives the drama in The Lives of Others.

The play is set in East Germany in 1984, five years before the fall of the Berlin wall. A talented and esteemed playwright (Dreyman) is under serious surveillance by the Stasi (secret police), together with his theatre director friend (Hauser) and star actor girlfriend (Christa-Maria Sieland). That these artists represent a constant threat to the political elite affirms Lenin’s long-past, prophetic fears. But all is more complicated, for government minister Hempf, who has ordered the surveillance, is already involved in a forced affair with a reluctant Christa and wants Dreyman out of the way so he can have her all to himself.

This is the backdrop. The drama centres, however, on one Gerd Wiesler, the Stasi officer charged with exclusive eavesdropping on the lives of this supposedly dissident group of creatives. And here we see simple humanity collide with political expediency in what is intended to be a heart-tugging tale.

It’s an old tale, though, known already to many from Von Donnersmarck’s powerful, Oscar-winning film of 20 years ago. And there’s a sense of cynical money-making in Sonia Friedman’ decision to give it full west end treatment with little or no redevelopment. That it boasts Keira Knightley as Christa in her return to the stage after 11 years confirms the project as a full commercial enterprise.

Knightley is as glossy as expected in the part. Draped in a series of stylishly contrived dresses created by Hildegard Bechtler and with immaculate make-up, she delivers this somewhat opaque woman with disarmingly paranoid grace. But the character is secondary in the play to that of Luke Thompson’s impossibly naive Dreyman and — the true star of the show — the always immaculate actor, Stephen Dillane as Wiesler.     That Robert Icke is the director adds excitement to what would otherwise be a pale copy of the film. And Icke’s visual imagination leaves us with lasting images: not least Bechtler’s glorious revolving set which brings us every detailed corner of Dreyman’s flat, all fully exposed except for the bedroom and bathroom — both sites of significant private happenings in the drama — which appear in misty focus as if Wiesler himself can’t bear to look.

Some scenes are outstanding, such as the sophisticated party where the theatrical elite gather, falsely secure in the knowledge that they are patriots who espouse the socialist cause and cannot ever be seen as enemies of the state. The scene where the flat gets bugged is also exquisitely executed as teams of highly drilled technicians swarm into the flat and penetrate every nook and cranny with invisible cameras and microphones. This is chilling.

The serious tone of the play and the supposed political acumen, however, are undermined by the somewhat unlikely innocence of Dreyman and the ridiculous idea that Hempf would play out his secret affair in a flat he knows to be under full surveillance.

While the play does highlight the ever-present potential threat of writers and artists to the dominant political philosophy, it more precisely embodies the corruption of power and the abiding humanity of ordinary people.

And it’s not an anti-socialist play. At one point Dreyman asserts that the socialist experiment of the Eastern bloc is overwhelmingly a quest for good. And that is the takeaway, not a Western celebration of glasnost as we might expect.

Runs until January 9. Box Office: 020 3925 2998, thelivesofothersplay.com 

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