Taking Sides at Chenango River Theatre

Wilhelm Furtwängler was Germany’s most renowned composer and conductor when Hitler came to power. Although he did not adhere to the Nazi regime and used his influence to help some Jewish musicians escape, Furtwängler remained in Germany all throughout World War II. Taking Sides, the play opening September 30th at the Chenango River Theatre, probes the question: was Furtwängler’s decision to stay an act of compliance?

Taking Sides was written in 1995 by Ronald Harwood, a British writer who also wrote screenplays for films The Dresser and The Pianist. It is based on Furtwängler’s own diaries and takes place in a demolished Berlin, just months after the war’s end. A cast of six revolves around the investigation of Furtwängler by Major Arnold from the American army, a former insurance adjuster who is certain that the famous conductor is guilty, and is willing to toe the line of the law in order to prove it.

“Like a cop. An old school cop,” James Wetzel describes his character, the Major. Wetzel speaks with a steady, biting demeanor, falling easily into character as he explains the Major’s point of view: “The US army just got into Germany, and we just found the death camps and saw what had been going on, and somebody had to pay for that. [Furtwängler] was their top celebrity all through that and enjoyed all the fruits of that society. He claims that a few good deeds excused it but my job, my assignment is to get the evidence. That if there is the evidence, I’ll find it.”

Jim Wicker plays Furtwängler, whose position is less unyielding than that of the Major. “At the beginning of the play, my character is completely convinced he did the right thing, he knows exactly why he did it and what he did it for and he expects to convince the Major that it’s true. As the play goes on and the Major is so relentless and attacking his position, he begins to doubt to some extent, which is a big part of the drama of the play,” tells Jim.

The tension that arises from this conflict is what drew director Bill Lelbach to the story. Bill first directed this play 18 years ago and finds its central question no less engaging now. “It’s a sort of titanic battle between these two figures; it’s like a boxing match if you will. You know, one’s trying to go for the kill, the other’s trying to avoid being killed, and that kind of show which is evenly balanced in terms of the evidence that’s presented makes it really fun for the audience to sit there and debate for themselves which side they fall on.”

He also gestures to the parallels to the conflicts of today’s world, in which passive civic engagement is under a leery moral scrutiny. The play asks not only what the human being’s role is in greater society, but what is the artist’s role? “Furtwängler is flawed in his inability to see beyond the world of art, you know he sort of wants to live in this bubble and has tried to live in this bubble,” Wicker explains.

The artists behind this play grapple with these questions, and their hope is that their audience does the same. Says Wetzel, “I would hope that they would try to imagine themselves at the end of the play in Nazi Germany trying to answer the question, ‘What would I do? What would I do?’”

Taking Sides opens September 30th and will run until October 16th. Performances begin at 7:30pm Fridays and Saturdays and 2pm on Sundays, but be sure to arrive early, as no patrons will be allowed to enter once the show starts. Tickets may be purchased online at chenangorivertheatre.org.