The Stone

Synopsis

'This is our house underneath all this mildew and junk. I know every stone''. 1934 - A young couple buy the house from a Jewish family, and so the myth begins. 1953 - The couple's daughter discovers the stone. 1973 - The family return to claim what's rightfully theirs. 1993 - The house is back in their possession. As a house passes from owner to owner, and from generation to generation, the secrets buried in the garden and seeping from the walls reveal themselves.

Our Review:

10 February 2009

The Royal Court’s season of new plays about Germany starts with The Stone by Marius von Mayenburg, translated by Maja Zade and directed by Ramin Gray. It’s stark, it’s short (one hour’s playing time), it’s elliptical and it’s virtually impossible to understand until you get home and read the programme text.

The actors arrive at the stage through the pass door to the auditorium, entering the German artist Johannes Schutz’s bare box set like patients in a waiting room. The sky blue box has a white ceiling, two tables and a few chairs. Linda Bassett as old Witha cowers under one of the tables.

This is the house she and her husband Wolfgang (Jonathan Cullen) bought from their Jewish friends in 1935 and now, in 1993, she is returning. The play develops as a sort of memorial tribunal of what happened to this East German family before, during and after the War; Witha is with her daughter Heidrun (Helen Schlesinger) and grand-d...

Read more of the review

Latest User Review

joesmith - 14 February 2009:

I agree wholeheartedly with 'priory road' and more. This was an absolutely fascinating piece of theatre, beautifully constructed like a Chinese puzzle. The direction was equally classy and slick and the acting as good as anything you could wish for, with Linda Bassett delivering a master class of her craft. Along with the sensational '7 jewish children',(and meeting a man who'd seen 35 HAMLETS) this was the best night I've spent in a theatre for a very long time. ...

Read more and add your own review