Low Down

Pip gives a convincing performance of Hitler in the days before he dies, and then turns the show entirely on its head.

Review

The stage is sparsely furnished with a desk, the eye instantly drawn to the vast swastika swathing the back wall. Pip Utton looks convincing as Adolf Hitler and his mannerisms are carefully observed and well executed. The show starts with a speech from Hitler, about his ideologies and plans for Germany. As the audience we are directly addressed as his loyal followers, and thus are made to feel complicit as he denigrates and abuses the Jews, the gypsies, the Slavs and the homosexuals. While the first half of the play is interesting in parts, it feels over-long, and as though we are being subjected to a reading of Mein Kampf. The content is interesting, but the same effect could have been achieved in half the time.

However the show comes into its own in the second half. Pip comes out of character and begins some light banter with the audience. However, soon the chatter becomes more serious and he begins to touch on issues such as colonialism, asylum seekers, and immigrant workers. Light-hearted at first the things he starts to say become really shocking, even more so because they are things you hear every day in the media, and on the streets. By the end, the fuehrer’s mannerisms are back, but it is Pip talking and contemporary issues being cited. This play is a clever and thought provoking piece of theatre, well worth going to see.

Reviewed by AB 7/08/07

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