Berlin Hanover Express *** TNT

Wednesday 01 April 2009

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Berlin Hanover Express

This article was first published on tntonline.co.uk on Friday 27 March 2009 16:55 GMT. It was last updated on Wednesday 01 April 2009 10:19 GMT.

Ian Kennedy Martin’s new play starts promisingly enough with a couple of officials closeted away in the office of the neutral Irish legation in Berlin in late 1942. Mallin has his nose buried deep in the files, hunting for evidence that one of their former colleagues was a spy, whilst the younger diplomat O’Kane is far more interested in trying to tell him yet another joke he really doesn’t want to hear.

The interaction between this ill-matched pair yields some entertainment, but the playwright has more serious issues to address. His main intention is to question Ireland’s neutrality at a time of war by putting the loyalties – as well as the integrity - of both men to the test when Nazi officer Kollvitz delves into the background of their German housekeeper Christe. It’s potentially fertile ground, but this pedestrian, predictable drama rarely rings true despite Kennedy Martin’s longstanding TV credentials.

Sean Campion is excellent as the resolutely blinkered Mallin, turning a blind eye to the reality of the death camps further down the railway line, and contrasts effectively with Owen McDonnell’s chipper O’Kane. But, despite the intensity of one deeply uncomfortable, voyeuristic scene which highlights the cruel authority exerted by the Nazis, these actors really deserve something meatier to work with.
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