FEAR AND MISERY IN THE THIRD REICH Union Theatre

Bertolt Brecht’s anti-fascist propaganda is a montage of short scenes describing everyday life for German citizens in Nazi Germany in the 1930s. Brecht is repetitive and Phil Willmott’s production would benefit from some judicious cutting. The inclusion of some Nazi songs would have been welcome, too. Easily, the best satire is the frightened judge who is about to try a complex criminal case in which a Jew, Stormtroopers and the Gestapo are involved. He knows that whatever judgment he makes it will be the wrong one and that he will be made the scapegoat.