I remember a discussion at university about paintings and propaganda.  Whereas we know that Picasso painted Guernica to show the unthinkable Fascist German bombing destruction of a Spanish town with no strategic importance.  Picasso was adamant that Guernica should remain in New York’s MOMA gallery until Spain became a democratic republic. When the Spanish government demanded the painting be returned to Spain, the non-democratic government said it was because it represented the division of the Spanish people during the civil war in Spain.  So some art is open to differing political interpretation.

So to the subject of A Thing of Beauty, the German filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl (a magnificent Imogen Stubbs) and the Nazi propaganda films she made in the 1930s.  We are returning to the issue of separating art from the behaviour of the artist.  Should we worry about Mozart’s scatology, or Shakespeare’s anti-semitism or WH Auden’s rent boy interaction or Leni Riefenstahl’s Nazi leanings?  Should we just enjoy the music, the plays, the poetry and Riefenstahl’s aesthetic films?

The context for this revealing examination of Leni Riefenstahl, written by Wendy Oberman (aunt of the actor Tracy-Ann Oberman) and directed by Jonathan Guy Lewis, is a series of interviews Riefenstahl gave in 1972 in London to the BBC documentary maker Harry Adams (Tony Bell). The fictional Adams uses flattery and admiration to win over Riefenstahl who initially shows strength of character and resistance but responds to praise with vanity and open flirtation.  It was definitely a mistake for the car the BBC ordered for her to be a Hillman Imp! Imogen Stubbs is totally beguiling in this role as the complex Riefenstahl and her German accent is flawless throughout. 

BBC management interfere with Adams’ plans, and they want to intersperse her footage with a documentary about the rise of the National Front in the UK.  They are really just interested in her role making propaganda for Hitler.  The two films that fit into this category are Triumph of The Will about Hitler’s 1934 Nazi Party Nuremberg Rally and Olympia in 1938 about the spectacle of the Berlin red banner swastika draped decorated Olympics in 1936.  She claims not to know that the Romani children she filmed ended up in death camps. 

Harry Adams is an alcoholic and a womaniser, although he is a married man.  He is ethically problematic.  He wants Riefenstahl to apologise, to say she is sorry but she asserts frequently that she never was a Nazi or a member of the Nazi Party. As the meetings progress in this very full but essential 105 minutes, we see Riefenstahl in many different moods.  Stubbs’ performance is electric and compelling.  The minor characters also play a role. There is plenty of wit in this well written play. Riefenstahl’s visual artistic ability and the search to produce the beautiful appears in some film clips and in her dance expressing emotional turmoil in the final scene. 

The set is the hotel room in Mayfair where all is filmed and there is a sound technician and cameraman present to assist.  I have watched Olympia in part and saw the arrival of the torch for the first time at a modern Olympics in Berlin. It is carried by a tall Aryan from its origins in Greek classical architecture and Greek statues.  Greek stone heads are placed on naked human bodies as a celebration of the body beautiful.  Also spectacular are the crowd with raised right arms, including some of the visiting team parades, the Austrians and the Italians, as are the original events and the wonderful Jesse Owens. No beach basketball in 1936!

I found a description of these four performances (there are 600 on the waiting list for a ticket) as a preview, although we were invited to review.  This surely has to be a try out for bigger and better showings which this acting, writing and directing deserve and I long to see it again.   From Theatrevibe, the site that doesn’t give stars, I have no hesitation in awarding A Thing of Beauty  Five Shiny Stars.  Please note this is stars not swastikas!