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The Brother
A Play by John Hancock & Dorothy Tristan
Based on the book “The Brother” by Sam Roberts
Directed by John Hancock
Produced by Hancock Productions
At the Theatre Building Chicago
1225 W. Belmont
Chicago, IL
Call 773-327-5252, tickets $30
Thursdays at 7:30 pm
Saturdays at 3 & 7:30 pm
Sundays at 3 pm
Running time is 2 hours, 20 minutes with intermission
Through November 18, 2007
World premier spy thriller is a riveting drama
Who knew that Julius and Ethel Rosenberg, the infamous Jewish-American spies for the Soviet Union, were convicted largely by the testimony (including lies) by Ethel’s brother David Greenglass, himself a member of the spy ring that gave the Russians secrets for the Manhattan Project? In this world premiere, The Brother, is writer/director John Hancock and Dorothy Tristan’s adaptation of Sam Roberts’ book. This docudrama is well paced, nicely acted and unfolds as a riveting spy thriller.
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Veteran actor Robert Breuler, as David Greenglass, is at the top of his craft. He carries the enigmatic young spy (shown here as an old man) whose amazing lack of personal integrity, political conviction and family loyalty motivates the opportunities to turn America’s wartime secrets to the Soviets. Breuler presents Greenglass as gullible, somewhat dim-witted and completely amoral. Breuler plays him a slay, unpretentious and selfish. When confronted by the FBI, Greenglass turns “rat” easily and without remorse.
This docudrama deftly unfolds as a spy thriller wherein we meet Julius (Anthony Tournis) and Ethel Rosenberg (Justine Serino) as the philosophically committed ‘true-believers’ in Communist movement. Julius is the guile political operative who blends his philosophy with practical spy craft in order to serve the Soviet Union and bring down the United States. In Sam Roberts’ book (which the play is based) David Greenglass, for the first time, reveals that he lied about Ethel Rosenberg typing the plans for the atomic bomb in order to save his wife from prison. That testimony led to Ethel’s death sentence.
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In this thrilling show, we see that, indeed, the Rosenberg’s were guilty of treason. True enough but Davis Greenglass and Harry Gold (Lee Kanne) co-conspirators were only given prison sentences. Roy Cohn (Will Shanklin), the notorious unethical lawyer uses the threat of the death penalty to motivate the Rosenberg’s to name names. Little does he understand the motivation of true believers. The Rosenberg’s stay silent and were executed in 1953.
The story is told with through weaving narratives and dramatic scenes anchored by Sam Roberts (effective work by Bill Bannon) whose interviews with David Greenglass are the basis of the play. This is a tight production that unfolds smoothly while clearly presenting a unique perspective on American history. It is worth seeing. Robert Brueler is terrific as David Greenglass. The power of government to intimidate and abuse citizens is a reminder to all that we must protect out rights against big brother.
Recommended
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago podcast
Date Reviewed: August 30, 2007
Review of The Brother by Randy Hardwick
The Brother is John Hancock’s and Dorothy Tristan’s stage adaptation of the Sam Roberts book about the notorious Julius and Ethel Rosenberg spy trial of the early 1950’s. Author Roberts managed to track down Ethel Rosenberg’s brother, David Greenglass, whose testimony was instrumental in the conviction of the Rosenbergs, for a series of interviews that led to his controversial book. The play essentially recounts the story as told to Roberts in what is probably the most even-handed telling of the tale to date.
In this latest offering from Hancock Productions, Chicago stalwart Robert Breuler rambles his way through a quite believable portrayal of the traitorous brother – who, by way of fact, was actually the one who smuggled whatever secrets were passed by the Rosenbergs from the Los Alamos nuclear facility where he was stationed during WWII. Making a character whose treachery ultimately sends his sister to the electric chair appear human is not an easy task, but Breuler manages to make Greenglass an almost sympathetic character at times. Justine Serino and Anthony Tournis look so uncannily like the Rosenbergs and their acting is so strong that it seems that one is actually watching the real Rosenberg’s tell their tragic story. Ditto for Will Shanklin, who is infuriating as the smug prosecutor Roy Cohn, and Lee Kanne who plays Los Alamos go-between Harry Gold.
For fans of docudrama this show is about as good as it gets. In spite of stylized portrayals of a shocking fire and ultimately the executions of the Rosenbergs, the production’s strength is its realism. Realism is also its weakness. The audience is basically presented with the well-known tale in sequence as told to an onstage Sam Roberts (Bill Bannon) by Breuler’s Greenglass. The others merely act out the scenes as the brother (Greenglass) narrates them and, while it is a perennially interesting tale, the novelty of the details brought out from the brother’s point of view probably made better reading when the book was published than they do theatre today. The actors do a great job with the narrative script and Matthew Walter’s clever set makes the action smooth and realistic, but at the end of the day, the reality is all there is. The story ends, as it always has, with the death of two naļve, if not exactly innocent Americans. There is a strong feeling that someone has finally gotten a balanced account of the events, but that is all there is. We do not know what, if anything, it all means. As art, The Brother is the portraiture work of a 19th-century photo re-toucher. As docudrama history, it’s an absolute must see.
RECOMMENDED
Daate Reviewed: August 25, 2007
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