Reviews

Von Rippentrop’s Watch (Tour – Oxford)

Von Rippentrop’s Watch introduces us to a Jewish family consisting of the brothers Gerald and David, their mother and Gerald’s wife and daughter, gathered together for a Passover meal.

As is typical on family gatherings, the story leads up to the regulation family argument. And then the bomb is dropped – to solve his family problems Gerald plans to sell his dead father’s watch.

The first act is done with a warmth and humour that makes it hugely enjoyable to watch, and the audience is laughing throughout. So far so good.

In the second act we learn that the watch is so valuable because it belonged to Joachim Von Ribbentrop, Hitler’s Foreign Minister.
The actual owner of this watch is one of the play’s writers, Laurence Marks, and the second act is inspired by his own dilemma: can a Jew accept Nazi money?

One could easily see how this could have been an excellent piece – a funny, light first act and a serious, thought-provoking  second act. But Von Ribbentrop’s Watch fails to achieve what it promises. We become distracted by irrelevant side-plots, clumsy attempts at historical and religious symbolism and a not-quite-convincing introduction of Von Ribbentrop himself in the form of Gerald’s conscience.

So overall the play disappoints, because it has enormous potential to be great and simply doesn’t fulfil it.