This production needs more dosh: Good, at the Harold Pinter Theatre, reviewed

Good, starring David Tennant, needs more dosh spent on it. The former Doctor Who plays John, a literary academic living in Germany in 1933, whose cosy life is disrupted by troublesome females. His mum is a cranky basket case dying in hospital and his wife is a manic depressive who can’t look after their kids. Both women speak with Scottish accents. John has a fling with a third Scotswoman who studies Goethe at his university.

Weirdly, all three women – mum, wife and girlfriend – are played by the same actress. Couldn’t the producers fork out for a proper cast? They certainly didn’t spend more than a fiver on the set, which looks like an abandoned bomb shelter made of cardboard. The story follows John’s gradual drift towards Nazism which he embraces half-heartedly in the hope of furthering his career. His Jewish friend Maurice begs him for help fleeing Germany before he gets carted off to a death camp but John seems untroubled by his pal’s plight.

The story would have been more powerful if John’s mistress had been Maurice’s sister, but the playwright, C.P. Taylor, is an arid, ruminative type who shuns conflict or emotional depth. The show feels like a commentary on a play rather than a play in itself. Further budgetary problems spoil the second half when John goes to meet Adolf Eichmann who is impersonated by the same chap who plays the role of Maurice. Spare a thought for poor Elliot Levey, an excellent technical actor, who now has the name ‘Adolf Eichmann’ emblazoned on his CV.

It’s clear that the producers simply lacked the funds to stage this play professionally. Or did they? In the dying moments, seven extras appear dressed as Jewish captives and Nazi guards.