63 million people died in the Second World War. IWitness is the story of one of them - Franz Jägerstatter. What makes his death remarkable is that his own side killed him. Franz was an Austrian executed in the August of 1943 for refusing to join the Nazi forces. Dramatised by Israeli playwright Joshua Sobol, Franz's story becomes an allegory for Israeli aggression in the Palestinian Territories.
      Confined to a cell for the majority of the play, Franz (Mel Raido) finds freedom in this small and repetitive universe and in his self-sacrifice. The Franz Jäggerstatter that Sobol has written has a spiritual forbearance that deliberately recollects both Christ and Ghandi. He actively chooses the onerous tasks of polishing boots, scrubbing pots and cleaning latrines, thereby resting back some control of his environment. And in the shine of the boots and the pots and the latrines he sees the persistence of objects - he sees that which will outlast his own life and it helps him to face his death. This is a play laden with symbolism - from the friends and memories that visit him in his cell, subjecting him to temptation and trial, to his daughter - an icon of innocence Spielberg would appreciate.
      Franz is man as martyr, but thankfully he is never played as self-righteous by Raido, even though he is driven to confession by the idea of his own pride. Is his refusal to join the ranks a mark of vanity - should he submit to the will of the majority? The answers given by his prison chaplain (Richard Atwill) mouth a faith that is deaf, dumb and blind. Father Jochmann denies that his nation is engaged in systematic murder. He believes that humanity is God's herd and that the herd must follow its leaders. His anti-individualist values are a perfect reflection of the Nazi creed. IWitness is not a play that lets the Catholic Church get away with its tacit complicity in Nazi crimes.
      But the specifics of religion and politics seem incidental to the piece. Its concern lies more with fundamental issues of morality and conscience. First performed in Israel in 2002 at the height of the intifada, and written in response to the actions of Israeli pilots and soldiers who refused to serve in the occupation of the Palestinian territories - Sobol's play is about what is right and what is humane. Franz is not portrayed as an inveterate conscientious objector - his objection is to Nazism. He declares that if there were an Austrian army he would fight for them against Germany. The paradox inherent in the play is between Franz's belief in the Old Testament doctrine 'thou shalt not kill' and his conviction that it is the duty of every citizen to stand against an immoral leader.
      IWitness is a rich and serious play, but it is not without problems. The penultimate scene is a structural anomaly, taking us back to before Franz was imprisoned. This effectively releases him from his cell, dissipating the claustrophobia and tension that have been built up. It also marks a foray into Franz's psychology that leaves his character confused rather than explored. He suddenly appears akin to a post-war beat generation figure, wild and callous, with a beloved motorbike.
      The symbol of Franz's daughter Maria (Lucja Nowicka/Natalia Tatarka) is too obvious and didactic, and it undermines the play's complexity. A conversation she has with her mother (Natalie Radmall-Quirk), underscoring the absurdity of her father's execution, could have been cut. '...Why are they going to kill him?' she questions, 'because he refused to kill other people.' It's a point that is subtly and consistently made throughout the play - to throw it into relief in a mawkish mother and child scene is a pity.
      Similarly the production suffers a little from some indulgent, Spielberg style touches. Music is used to deliberately emotive effect, when the story and performances are powerful enough to stand without it. Flickering tube lights are an annoyance, though they work well at the close.
      But despite these flaws director Michael Ronen has created an intense, politically acute and morally intelligent production. This is a play that is thought provoking without being pious or humourless. Ronen is not afraid to show Franz's Nazi friends Hans and Martin as human and likable. Richard Atwill brings Hans, a rumbustious joker and political pragmatist, vibrantly to life, while Jonathan Bryan's brooding, brittle Nazi idealist, Martin is sympathetic. Through the life and death of Franz Jägersatter this play shows that both to err and to be divine are qualities within the capacity of Man.
Iona Firouzabadi