The stage version of Günter Grass´s 1959 novel is set to open in London - with its `unbearable´ protagonist and tales of Nazi collaboration, it´s as controversial as everEvery audience loves a hero, but Oskar Matzerath, one of the most unsettling literary characters of the 20th century, doesn´t make it easy for the spectator. By the end of Oliver Reese´s stage version of Günter Grass´s novel The Tin Drum, of which Oskar is the sole protagonist, the realisation spreads through the auditorium that Oskar has played a key part in the deaths of all three people who make up his family.The man official records call his father, Alfred, has choked on the Nazi membership badge his son handed to him as the Russian Red Army descended on his house. Jan Bronski, his mother´s lover, has been shot dead by the Nazis after being denounced by the boy who might be his biological son. His mother, meanwhile, has stuffed herself with herring and eel until succumbing to fish poisoning, horrified by the realisation she could be about to have another child.The Tin Drum is at the Coronet, London, 24-29 February. Continue reading...
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