Playwright: Rhea Leman. At: Akvavit Theatre at Strawdog Theatre, 1802 W. Berenice Ave. Tickets: ChicagoNordic.org; $25. Runs through: July 9
Audiences attending Hitler on the Roof are put in the uncomfortable position of deciding whether or not to sing along with Nazis. But that's just one of many morally questioning oddball moments in American-Danish playwright Rhea Leman's hectoring 2011 "play for two clowns," now making its U.S. debut courtesy of Scandinavian playwright-dedicated Akvavit Theatre.
From the start, Leman shows that she's theatrically willing to play fast and loose with time and history. Hitler on the Roof takes place in an underground bunker where notorious Nazi propagandist Dr. Joseph Goebbels ( Amy Gorelow in male drag and white-fright makeup ) has been holed up through to today. Yet Goebbels somehow has kept up with pop culture, often breaking out into songs written well after the end of World War II ( and his suicide death in 1945 ).
"Dr. G" ( pronounced "gay" in the German alphabet ) is often cowering as if under siegebe it from recorded bombing sounds or real-life rumblings of passing trains. Yet he's also unrepentant in spouting out his party's intolerant ideals and still very proud at how the German people installed the Nazis into power.
These portions of Hitler on the Roof feel like a performance-art history lesson, with Gorelow being overworked into a state of exhaustion. It could be invaluable for those who don't know about Goebbels' role in the Third Reich, but it can be tiring for those who know their World War II history.
The dramatic dynamic changes when controversial filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl ( Jay Torrence in female drag and a busted wig ) infiltrates the bunker. The artist behind the infamous Nazi propaganda film The Triumph of the Will has arrived on a mission to convince Goebbels to seek forgiveness and express remorse for his actions. Yet Goebbels wants none of it, and starts interrogating Riefenstahl's on her motives and whether she truly regrets working with the Nazis.
Co-directed by Kirstin Franklin and Amber Robinson, Hitler on the Roof is oddly both theatrically clever and tiring at the same timeespecially for the perspiration-drenched actors. The design elements are all in tune, with set designer Chad Eric Bergman particularly in fine form with his transformative wall of filing cabinets.
With Hitler on the Roof, Leman's takes lots of comical pot shots at Nazism while also emphasizing that those ideals did not die out in the 20th century. Leman wrote the play in the face of rising Danish nationalism, though it feels very unsettling now considering how much support the current U.S. president received from white nationalists in the last election.