Democracy

Interviews:

Reviews:

Written By Michael Frayn

Sydney Theatre, Previews 11 April, Opening Night: 14 April to 7 May 2005


Democracy Logo

Cast:

As yet it has to be announced who actually is performing the following individual roles, but has been announced that Paul Goddard, Geoff Kelso, Cilin McPhillamy, Steve Rodgers, Maeliosa Staffford, Sean Tylor are performing in the production.

Synopsis:

It is 1969. The first left-wing government in post-war West German history has come to power, led by the charismatic Willy Brandt.

A young advisor, Günter Guillaume, is brought in. Guillaume is a charmer in a cold, tense world. He climbs the rungs, eventually becoming Brandt’s personal assistant and indispensable advisor.

But Guillaume is hiding a secret so explosive it has the power to destroy Brandt’s government and create dangerous waves on both sides of the iron curtain.

From the award-winning creative team that produced Copenhagen, comes another gripping production that lays bare a key moment in 20th century history.

Interviews:

Power Play Wins Vote!

London-based actor Philip Quast comes home

Interview with Gary Smith, 8th April 2005, Daily Telegraph, Australia.

If actor Philip Quast appears a little jaded, it’s not only because he’s in the middle of rehearsals. Blame sparkling weather, a warm ocean and the temptations on arriving in autumnal Sydney from a bleak London winter.

Quast, who has lived in England for more than a decade, can’t resist making the most of every moment on his return to the Sydney stage in Sydney Theatre Company’s production of Democracy.

“It’s a shock coming home again. I haven’t slept really since I’ve been here because I wake up every morning and go swimming at 5am and the surf is warm and it’s a terrific morning. I was at Bondi recently when there was a big surf and it was thrilling. All that’s been beautiful. It’s quite conflicting because I think of my three kids [ages 15, 13 and 9] ... it’s wonderful, the quality of life is fantastic here.”

The beach life is welcome R&R from the intensity of rehearsals for Democracy with veteran Australian director Michael Blakemore.

Blakemore, 76, is part of a writing/directing double act with the play’s author, Michael Frayn, who also wrote Copenhagen, which was a sellout success for the STC three years ago. Blakemore has directed nine of Frayn’s plays. Quast believes their success as a team is down to a special understanding.

“They speak shorthand. I don’t know how Michael (Blakemore) has done it because if you look at the script of Democracy you’d never understand it because there are no stage directions. But there’s not a wasted syllable in it anywhere. There’s nothing extraneous at all, it’s pared right down. Frayn can write it like that probably because he knows Michael will direct it.”

Quast, whose career highlights include playing Javert in Les Misérables on the London stage and a 17-year stint as a presenter of Play School on ABC television, regards it a privilege to work in the company of a master.

“I’ve long admired him and he’s a legend, really” . He has a reputation of not only being a great teacher but a wonderful wit, and wit in the rehearsal room is a wonderfully disarming quality for an actor because as soon as any neuroses set in he’s able to crack a joke at the right time.”

At its heart the play is a political thriller which explores the use and abuse of power in high places. It centres around former German chancellor Willy Brandt, played by Quast, who led the first left-wing government in post-war West Germany.

“It’s interesting that there’s a play called Democracy at the moment because it’s a word that’s used willy-nilly by our world leaders as if it’s suddenly been invented. What is that word, democracy? It’s not a constant.

Is it the democracy of George W. Bush, who would be happy as long as it’s the democracy he wants? Look at how many times they have tried to get rid of a democratically elected left-wing government in Venezuela, and the struggles for democracy in Iraq. The assault on our judiciary by governments that are being totalitarian at the moment, under this blanket of fear being perpetrated about terrorism, makes democracy a very pertinent topic.

Democracy in Germany could not have been achieved without Willy Brandt. He was a flawed man, a manic depressive, a philanderer, he drank a lot, but he was a man of vision. I find it fascinating how democracy is under assault.

It’s still topical. Look at what happened to Bill Clinton .... the concerted effort by the Republicans to destroy him, and we call that (system) democracy. The play shows what goes on behind the scenes in order to achieve democracy, the bitching, the jibes.”

The issues Quast is helping to explore in the play seem a long way from his life as a Play School presenter in the 1980s and ‘90s, when he was an idol to millions of children.

“You couldn’t go anywhere. If I was in a bad mood and someone spoke to me rudely at a checkout and I had a go at them .... one woman said: ‘That’s the last time my kid watches you on Play School’. There are stage managers here that used to watch me on Play School. That’s frightening.”

On screen and stage, there's a star in there!

Interview Sydney Morning Herald, 13th April 2005

Philip Quast tells Bryce Hallett how Play School helped him as a performer.

With his big, watchful eyes, outspoken nature and expansive gestures, Philip Quast knows how to make an entrance, and not only on stage.

The London-based actor was doing what he loves best late last year - dividing his time between a straight play and a musical - when he hastily popped along to the launch of the director Michael Blakemore's memoir Arguments with England.

Quast didn't have time to change after performing in A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum and arrived clad in a short leather skirt, gold armbands and a matching helmet. Being a sage man of the theatre, Blakemore seemed not to care or notice when he casually introduced the actor to the playwright Michael Frayn. "Oh, by the way, Michael, this is Philip Quast. He's going to be in Democracy in Sydney."

Frayn stared in amazement, replying: "Really? What part?"

"Willy Brandt!"

Picture of PhilipQuast tells this story partly to illustrate how weird and wonderful his career has been and how, as an actor, he can defy expectation by being a lovable rogue one moment, a despised politician the next.

It's a mark of Quast's commitment and talent that he can almost vanish inside any number of vivid characters by drawing eccentricities, virtues and weaknesses to the fore.

His capabilities as an actor have been stretched this way and that by some of the world's most influential directors, be it in Shakespeare, documentary drama, Jacobean thrillers, cabaret or epic musicals such as Les Miserables, in which he cut a dashing figure as Inspector Javert.

Quast is regarded as a director's actor and he insists his time as a presenter on Play Schoolenabled him to become a truthful, communicative and flexible performer. "It's one of the single most important things I have done," says the 48-year-old actor during a break from Democracyrehearsals.

"In the end, acting is a job like any other and you want to do it as well as you can. I love rehearsals - the pain, the neuroses, the continual process of learning ... The only thing I can compare it to is cooking a meal. You have to plan the menu and prepare the ingredients. You bring things to a boil and take things off the heat. You must also consider the number of guests. Sometimes you follow a recipe but there's always a risk. I love the cooking process and find that the actual eating isn't as much joy as the presentation."

A graduate of the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney, Quast has won the Olivier theatre award in London three times - in 1990 for Sunday in the Park with George; in 1998 for his portrayal of a gay polio sufferer in The Fix; and in 2002 for South Pacific.

The character actor is drawn to working with first-rate directors and names them all: Peter Hall, Trevor Nunn, Adrian Noble, Sam Mendes, Gale Edwards, Howard Barker and Blakemore, an expatriate Australian.

"I jumped at the chance to work with Michael," says Quast. "He's a great teacher and has the ability to point things out without saying it's a problem. The writing [in Democracy] is intricate and precise and Michael knows it requires drilling. In a way, the play is a farce and the way it handles factual information is very clever ... It's a penetrating look at human complexity and I'm sure it will extend us all."

Democracy reunites friends and collaborators Frayn and Blakemore, whose production of Copenhagen won Tony Awards in New York and struck a chord with Sydney Theatre Company audiences in 2002, unexpectedly making the play one of its hits.

Democracy is a fusion of Cold War spy thriller, political shell game and intimate human drama. The play centres on Brandt, the first left-of-centre chancellor in West Germany in 40 years, and his downfall, plotted by his assistant Gunter Guillaume (Geoff Kelso), who spies on Brandt for the East German Stasi (secret police). It explores Guillaume's dual identity and the conflict between his duty to Brandt's enemies and his affection for their prey.

"Brandt is deeply, deeply flawed," says Quast. "He's manic-depressive but not Machiavellian; he's got a lot of the Kennedys and Clintons about him ... The thing is, the flaws that made Willy Brandt great also made him hated and brought him down. And without him the Cold War wouldn't have ended and the [Berlin] Wall wouldn't have come down. The world needs these sorts of people to move it forward."

Quast thrives on the energy and pressure of working in the theatre but says he's never been inclined to direct, except when he detects a lack of vision. "Actors feel unworthy, I think. When you work with a good director you never want to do it yourself. It's only when you're in a bad situation that you think, maybe it's time I gave it a go.

Most recently, Quast starred in David Hare's political play Stuff Happens, an experience so timely that it reconfirmed his passion for "the honesty" of the stage.

He admits to feeling torn between living in London, where he thrives on its rich cultural diversity, and Sydney, where he loves the beaches and the go-getting spirit. He has a terrace in Redfern but he and his wife, Carol, and their three sons rarely spend time there.

After the run of Democracy and a stint teaching music theatre in London, Quast will return to the STC in December to work with Howard Barker on The Cherry Orchard, for which Robyn Nevin will make a stage comeback after an absence of two years.

A transcript of Philip Quast's interview with Lauran Scrivano on behalf of Currents, the Sydney Theatre Company Subscriber's magazine. April 2005

LS: What was it about Democracy that made you want to be part of this production?

PQ: I have always admired Michael Frayn. I had seen Copenhagen and I loved the way it was directed because of the rhythm and the pace that Michael Blakemore seems to engender in his plays. Then I saw Democracy at the National and when the offer came up I jumped at it. The combination of the two Michaels working together is something that you can't pass up as an actor. One of the other reasons is that my wife and I went to Berlin when the wall was up and the Cold War was at its height. I remember an experience we had when we went over to see the Berliner Ensemble one night. The whole difficulty of getting into Berlin, them searching you and the dogs we went through a corridor in Berlin through to East Germany. We had that experience of the machine guns, the racing at night to get back to Checkpoint Charlie. We went right into East Berlin, to areas that had never been repaired from the bombing of the Second World War and people were burning their furniture because it was so cold the year we were there. Then when I came over to the West End to do Les Miserables in '89 the wall started coming down. So I remember the events surrounding Willy Brandt clearly.

LS: As an actor, what are the challenges in playing Willy Brandt?

PQ: The first challenge technically is pace, just the sheer speed and the dexterity of thought - having enough knowledge to know what you are talking about and really understanding the politics. What I am looking forward to is trying to find the balance between the play being about middle-aged melancholia and balancing that with the history and the politics. Brandt is a person who is neurotic, manic-depressive, a hypochondriac and yet had this manner of being able to lead through charisma. He knew exactly what he was doing, he was a supreme politician.

LS: Given Willy Brandt was a real person what kind of research are you doing for the part?

PQ: I am reading all the biographies, grabbing anything I can. I don't want to try and do an impersonation because it is not about that. Michael Frayn is very clear that the play is set in a world where there is a lot of presumption about what happened. However, some of the events are real so I just look for a few key moments where you may trigger the audience's memory in terms of newsreel footage of what actually happened.

LS: The play depends on the relationship between Brandt and his shadow Gunter Guillaume. What kind of challenges does that present?

PQ: Their relationship is rather like the Othello/Iago relationship where one is doing something and the other doesn't suspect. The hardest thing about the play is why it all happened and went on for so long without anyone suspecting. The way the play is shaped the relationship develops beautifully between the two of them and it is a matter for me to find the rhythm of that development. How it goes from ambivalence on Willy Brandt's part to gradually the two of them becoming friends and almost alter egos. Until, at the end when they are talking about each other and they haven't seen each other it is rather sad.

LS: What do you hope audiences will get out of the production?

PQ: Germany is a country that tends to be disparaged here in Europe. There is a lot of racial stereotyping going on by the British of the other European countries. I feel that there is a big message in the play. The way things are politically at the moment we should really look at what Germany has achieved. They are quite vigilant as a country about the rise in the right. We tend to be self-congratulatory in Australia and Europe that Germany's fate didn't happen to us. The rise in the right in all our countries and especially the evangelical right is quite shocking. We have a smugness that it could never happen here. I feel what Germany has managed to achieve is very important. That's something we can learn from them. In Australia the Prime Minister is able to lie, influence an entire election and nobody says anything. The play is quite amazing in that way because Germany has achieved so much.


We would like to thank Rosie for providing us with this transcript and the picture.

REVIEWS:

History in human terms

Rehearsal picture from Sydney Central CourierReview by John McCallum The Australian, April 18, 2005

THE more you know about the history behind it, the more you will get out of Michael Frayn's fascinating political drama. It is a complex play about even more complex events, focused dramatically on a central human relationship between the charismatic German chancellor Willy Brandt and his unassertive personal assistant, Gunter Guillaume, who turned out to be an East German spy and whose arrest was a factor in Brandt's downfall.

Frayn's recent play Copenhagen was also based on a central relationship between two mismatched men thrown together by history: the physicists Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg, on opposite sides – but connected intellectually during World War II. In that play Frayn imagined what occurred during an encounter between them in 1941. In Democracy he dramatises a relationship that stretched for five years.

Brandt was mayor of West Berlin during the 1950s, when the Soviet Union was trying to absorb the city back into East Germany, and he went on to become the chancellor of West Germany in the early 1970s. During that time he led his part of the divided country on the first steps towards a rapprochement with its former enemies in the Soviet bloc. An unexpected consequence of his Ostpolitik was, eventually, the fall of the wall that divided his old Berlin, and later the collapse of the entire Soviet empire.

This is partly a story of the human side of spying, in the tradition of John le Carre. Guillaume, played well by Geoff Kelso, is a meekly devoted servant of two masters who becomes boyishly proud and confident when he is reporting back to his Stasi controller (Paul Goddard). We watch him falling under Brandt's spell, full of guilt and grief at the end when his beloved victim falls.

Brandt, the publicly confident but privately depressive leader of the new Germany, is played by Philip Quast with stature, authority and a beautiful voice for the public speeches. Circling around him are the politicians who under Brandt's erratic leadership, and later without him, played the games that made the modern world. In a good cast, Sean Taylor as Helmut Schmidt and John Gaden as the backroom manipulator Herbert Wehner are outstanding.

Michael Blakemore's direction, with a set by Peter J. Davison, lighting by Nigel Levings and sound by Paul Charlier, steers a clear path through this complex script. It ends with a vivid evocation by the three designers of the fall of the Berlin Wall. It's not quite the imagined nuclear disaster that was the climax of Copenhagen, when the world might have ended, but it's an effective conclusion to a strong production.

Democracy, Sydney Theatre

Review by Bryce Hallett, Sydney Morning Herald, April 16, 2005

Democracy, By Michael Frayn, Sydney Theatre Company, Sydney Theatre, April 14

Dense and austere, enthralling and sober, historic and contemporary - contradictions, double meanings and oppositional forces permeate the intricate workings of Michael Frayn's Democracy.

The fictional play, based on archival material, centres on the intriguing relationship between the heroic and indecisive Willy Brandt, the West German chancellor from 1969 to 1974, and the nondescript Stasi agent, Gunter Guillaume, his peculiarly like-minded assistant, confessor and eventual destroyer.

On Peter J. Davison's two-tiered, compartmentalised set pierced by a spiral staircase, Democracy conveys the tainted inner workings of a bunkered political machine and the smooth rhetoric and assurances that appeal to public emotions despite their hollow ring.

Frayn cleverly stitches together a drama that is partly a Cold War spy thriller, a history play and, moreover, a human drama about duplicity, trust, betrayal and love. It takes a while for the play to gain momentum and become greater than the sum of its men-in-suit parts - ministers and advisers who habitually huddle and drift into uncertain night. Elusiveness, paradox and enigma are a constant of Frayn's writing.

Democracy is a fine, intelligent and searching work, though it is not, to my mind, as brilliant as Frayn's Copenhagen.

"Complexity is what the play is about: the complexity of human arrangements and of human beings themselves, and the difficulties that this creates in both shaping and understanding our actions," Frayn says in a program note. The play, and Michael Blakemore's assured production, gains power as it increasingly reveals the demons of the womanising Brandt (Philip Quast) - his isolation, self-doubt and depression - and deftly depicts Guillaume's (Geoff Kelso) conflict between his duty to Brandt's enemies and his affection for their prey. Both men are fascinated by the details and difficulties of democracy, and the second act presents some nicely ironic moments of suspicion between them that are both amusing and strangely sad.

Quast's performance is complicated and commanding. He brings out Brandt's idealism and contradictions without resorting to bravado while capably exposing the melancholy, uncertainty and failings that topple him. That Quast makes him both likeable and unknowable is quite a feat. "The merest possibility that Guillaume's not what he seems makes him infinitely more tolerable," Brandt says in one of a number of wittily ironic and elegant lines.

Kelso is superb as the equally inscrutable Guillaume, whose reports to his East German cohorts are credited in Democracy with having led the way to east-west reconciliation.

The ensemble is excellent in often dry and insubstantial parts, and includes Brandon Burke, Paul Goddard, Sean Taylor and John Gaden, who makes a memorable mark as the gentlemanly conniver Herbert Wehner.

Blakemore doesn't push for topical resonances but they are there for the taking. The devious backstabbing and convenient lies, the cracks and fissures behind the partitions of smooth, unruffled command - surely they have a familiar ring?

Democracy

Philip as BrandtA true(ish) tale about the dreams of two men and the fates of two nations. Whether it works depends on your taste for political intrigue and your stamina in the theatre.

Review by Colin Rose, The Sun-Herald, April 2005

Willy Brandt (Philip Quast), charismatic statesman and newly elected chancellor of West Germany, dreams of a reconciliation with the East, with Warsaw, Moscow and East Berlin.

But what about Brandt's personal assistant, Gunter Guillaume (Geoff Kelso), a minor functionary so drably anonymous and lacking in charisma that he could be the anti-Brandt?

In Guillaume's other line of work, his anonymity is his greatest asset: he's a sleeper spy for the Stasi, the East German secret police, who can scarcely believe their luck at getting a snoop so close to Brandt.

In Democracy, writer Michael Frayn employs the same technique as he did in Copenhagen, his celebrated play about the genesis of the atomic bomb. Working with the historical record, Frayn has imagined the disagreements, the manoeuvring and the backstabbing among Brandt's cabinet colleagues as his Ostpolitik, a policy of detente with the Eastern bloc, gathers momentum.

Frayn is clearly a fan of Brandt's idealism and the way in which Germany has rehabilitated its national character in the aftermath of Nazism.

But I'm not convinced that Frayn's enthusiasm is catching. German politics of the early 1970s is an even more recondite subject than the nuclear physics of Copenhagen and this is at times a dry and perhaps overly detailed account.

Michael Blakemore's elegant and precision-engineered production purrs along like a Mercedes-Benz on the autobahn.

Quast impressively evokes Brandt's public glamour and private despair, while Kelso's Guillaume has the smug self-satisfaction of "the perfect servant of two masters". Both of them have John Gaden breathing down their necks, on top form as a dirty, dirty player of political intrigue.

We would like to thank Moira and Sydney Theatre Company for giving us permission to use this photograph

The Theatre of Politics

Democracy by Michael Frayn, The Sydney Theatre, directed by Michael Blakemore.

Review by John Kachoyan Vibewire.net 22 Apr 05

Michael Frayn’s tense and austere Democracy is a tight weave of archival recreation and slick political observation, playing out dramas large and small on the backdrop of vast historical movements and the smaller human tragedies within them. On Peter J. Davison's two-tiered, paper filled set, Democracy conveys the stilted inner machinations of a political apparatus not equipped for power and the familiar spin and assurances that manipulate public desires despite the broken promises.

This fictional work pieces together the relationship of the West German chancellor of the first left-wing government in post-war West German history, Willy Brandt and Gunter Guillaume, a seemingly innocuous assistant, friend and Stasi spy. Guillaume, having secreted himself into the inscrutable Brandt’s Party Headquarters, becomes Brandt’s travelling partner, confessor and shadow. Both are intent, in their own way, on discovering whether the divided Germanies can truly trust each other and move towards reunification. Neither are aware of the betrayals, large and small, that will be involved.

Frayn’s brilliant Copenhagen was more focussed and perhaps left more of a definite impression than Democracy, which succumbs to the selfsame shifts of politics it revels in. It has its moods: sometimes history play, other times attempting spy-thriller status, but ultimately leaning towards sharp political revelation and the theatre of genuine human adversity. It must trace the line between the historical rift of East and West Germany and Brandt’s own attempts to reconcile this tear with the needs of a drama.

Democracy revels in the intricacies of men and the theatre of history. Guillaume himself becomes the jewel in the crown of the Stasi spy network in the West, his constant reports to his handler are credited with leading Germany to reunification and provides a fascinating device that allows Frayn to retell events often amid heavy exposition with ease and intensity.

Indecisiveness, duplicity and enigma are the fabric of Frayn’s writing. He weaves the increasingly deeper betrayals of Guillaume’s double life with the swings of fortune in Brandt’s own government. It is with Guillaume and Brandt that the play lies. Both men come to parallel each other, sharing their deepest fears and thoughts. The high officer himself opens up to his sometimes inscrutable assistant who displays a child-like devotion to the enigmatic politician. As Brandt, Philip Quast’s power is evident, from the striking speeches to deep depressions that characterised this complex figure. It is an accomplished and nuanced performance.

The supporting cast for the large part succeeds in differentiating a series of ministers and officials that otherwise would have remained simply men in suits. In the often dry and insubstantial parts Brandon Burke, Paul Goddard, Sean Taylor and John Gaden, who makes a memorable mark as the aging conniver ‘Uncle’ Herbert Wehner, were notably adept.

Geoff Kelso as the duplicitous spy, however, never quite grabbed me, be it in support or revulsion. I related to him as a half-man, aware of the intricacies of his act but never finding either version the over eager assistant or the increasingly disillusioned double agent satisfying. He remained essentially empty. Whether this is Michael Blakemore’s direction or Kelso’s performance is hard to tell. As Guillaume, he drops moments, missing beats, which is crucial given the character’s central role in explaining, revealing and complicating the events on stage. I wasn’t sure whether my distance from him, comparative to the enigmatic and flawed Brandt (and the powerful Quast behind that) was meant merely to highlight the seductive nature of Brandt’s charisma (which Guillaume in part succumbs to) or revealed something lacking in his strange doppelgänger, the East-German spy living under the harsh light of Western politics, and the man performing it. This said, given the opening night performance, I have little doubt that this brilliant play and its performers will only mature and develop as the run progresses.

Democracy stands as a powerful piece of theatre: intricate, stately, seductive and yet enigmatic, painful and bleak, just like the politics it portrays. Director Michael Blakemore has pieced together a brilliantly slick machine, a superbly intricate device filled with suspense and truly engaging drama.

Democracy

Review by World in Progress, 28 April 2005

I am large. I contain multitudes - Willy Brandt, quoting Walt Whitman

Democracy starts with the unexpected election of Willy Brandt as Chancellor of West Germany in 1969. It quickly becomes apparent that the central occupying concern of the plot is the country's relationship with East Germany, as seen through the eyes of Brandt's personal assistant and Stasi spy, Günter Guillaume. This, and the title of the play, means that the documented outcome of history thirty years on hangs about the characters like precariously perched statue about to topple.

Michael Frayn isn't afraid to tackle the big subjects quantum dynamics, uncertainty and history in Copenhagen for instance. Or the complexity of man, social and political democracy in his newest play. It's the man who undergoes closer scrutiny in this play. While the play never gets highly personal in the soap opera sense, Brandt or Willy as everyone calls him is put under the microscope more so than the German Federal Republic is.

The play draws on historical accounts to argue that West Germany's "Ostpolitik" during Brandt's time was partly shaped - and partly embraced by East Germany - because Brandt decided to trust Guillaume (even, it's implied, after he had his suspicions about his identity). Guillaume in turn reciprocated this trust and conveyed it to his East German masters. And - like Heisenberg's observer particle - Guillaume is changed by the necessity of interaction with his subject.

Thematically there's more to the play than this of course, but I'd have to read the script or see a production several times to grasp more fully the other threads Frayn weaves into the text.

This production is directed by Michael Blakemore who also defined Copenhagen to the world. Like Copenhagen, Democracy is largely stripped of overt theatrical devices. Like Copenhagen an exception is made for one bombastic effect near the end. I have to say though that the effect wasn't as profound this time because (a) there was an expectation that the play would end with the collapse of the Berlin Wall and (b) I've seen the device used to dramatise this more successfully deployed in other productions, including the STC's own Volpone.

Other, more subtle directorial touches work well. For instance I like how Guillaume's Stasi contact Arno Kretschmann is consistently placed downstage left, the almost everpresent observer. Then, after Guillaume is found out and Kretschmann is arrested, it is Günter who now occupies that position, no longer able to influence events, relegated only to watching and plaintively commenting.

Or I like how Frayn represents the chaotic nature of democracy "60 million separate Germanies" as Kretschmann distainfully refers to it - through eight different and differing West German characters... nine if you include Günter who falls more than a little in love with Willy and becomes the willing servant of two masters.

In contrast the unified, singular voice of communism is represented only by Kretschmann in dialogue with the conflicted Guillaume. Yet it's that singularity of construction that ultimately brings it down. (Or is it? Not being versed in political science I'd like to think that this is one of the points the play is making: that the infinite diversity of infinite combinations results in a more robust structure than one which insists on orthodoxy and uniformity.)

Paradoxically, the multitudinousness of Germany, of democracy, is also embodied in Brandt himself, not just by his entourage. His flaws and strengths are more complex than Guillaume's simple conflict of being caught between two loyalties. A dynamic personality in public, Brandt suffered from depression, indecisiveness and certain moral weaknesses. There's something of an echo of the "Clinton" of Joe Klein's Primary Colors in both politicians' relationship with their country's public and its women. (In Democracy's case, both public and women are unseen but certainly much felt.) Guillaume has only two identities and two positions. Brandt has many, he contains multitudes.

There's a difference between stage acting and film acting. Stage acting, by necessity, has to be bigger - expressions and voices must project to the back of the auditorium. It becomes more challenging to convey nuance and discreetness. Geoff Kelso as Guillaume however manages to project the "one step behind, one step to the side" obsequious civil servant while at the same time not becoming so bland that his role as narrator and audience representative is lost.

A sign I've been watching too many movies and TV shows, and not enough theatre: many of the performers reminded me of screen actors. Paul Goddard's Kretschmann projects the same ambiguous, aristocratic charm as Michael York, laced with a hint of steel. Helmut Schmidt (Willy's successor) through Sean Taylor's ruddy-faced "will he or won't he burst a blood vessel?" tantrums rants like The Soprano's Tony Sirico unleashed. As Reinhard Wilke, Brandon Burke pulls faces like a more manly Mr Bean. John Gaden's calculating Herbert Wehner (the feared and respected power broker of the party) recalls Alan Alda's political roles like the ones in The Aviator or The West Wing. And Kelso, especially with those glasses, haircut and general demeanour, reminded me of John Billingsley, Enterprise's best actor.

Philip Quast is the sort of performer who must play big roles; on stage at least where he can't really turn off his bass-baritone resonance. Not just his voice, but also his stature and theatrical style of acting works best in the classics or musical theatre. While he's very good in Democracy effectively portraying the highs, lows and ambiguities of Willy I'd argue that even Brandt might just be too constricted a part for him; or the play a drama of small scale, despite its broad scope - not quite suited to his strengths. He is large. He must contain multitudes.

Democracy

Philip as BrandtReview by Rosie Piper, May 2005

The casting of the Sydney Theatre Company's production of Michael Frayn's Democracy was particularly fine. John Gaden was excellent as the pipe-smoking, devious political manipulator Herbert Wehner. As Brandt explodes at one point Wehner is 'the puppet master who's jealous of his own puppets' his envy at Brandt's empathy with others apparent throughout the play. Geoff Kelso presented an outwardly servile and inwardly nervous Gunter Guillaume, the man who had gradually worked his way into Brandt's confidence.

The night was stolen by Philip Quast as Willy Brandt. (and this isn't personal bias!) What an inspired choice by the casting director in that an extremely charismatic actor was chosen to portray an extremely charismatic politician! Philip delivered his lines beautifully, his clear measured diction giving full weight and meaning to every word.

This accentuated the difference between Brandt and Guillaume. The latter's staccato style of delivery reflected the edgy nervousness of a man constantly looking over his shoulder. Part of his nervousness was no doubt due to the fact that the discovery of a Stasi agent so close to the Chancellor would no doubt cause Brandt's downfall. This would be the very thing his Masters least wanted. As Guillaume learned to respect (and even love) Brandt he was placed in a seemingly impossible position, at one point begging his 'control' to allow him to resign from Brandt's staff in order to minimise any damage to the man he had come to admire.

By the end of the play, assisted in no small part by Philip Quast's masterly performance I felt I understood Willy Brandt a little better. He was not only a very complex man of great charisma and charm, a natural leader who inspired affection and loyalty wherever he went but he also had flaws that proved his downfall - his habitual womanising and depressions aggravated by frequent bouts of heavy drinking and hypochondria among them.

Quast's portrayal of Brandt's depression and self-doubt was masterly - sitting sprawled in a chair, half-empty wine glass held loosely in one hand, half smoked cigarette in the other, refusing to speak even to his closest aides, merely holding out his glass to be refilled while shooting a weary glance at the ever attentive Ulrich Bauhaus - both bodyguard and 'wielder of the therapeutic corkscrew'. During one of his depressions he considered resignation, refusing to attend the Bundestag, meet with his cabinet colleagues or even address his adoring public from the window of his luxurious special train as he toured the country.

The play was not unremitting gloom and angst as there were moments of Philip's superb comic timing. For example, at one point he was confronted with the dossier of his alleged affairs with 'journalists, party workers ….., local supporters, prostitutes' - the 'smoking gun' that would finally end his career by providing Wehner with the ammunition he needed to replace Brandt with the more malleable Helmut Schmidt. Brandt leafed through what at first appeared to be a few typed sheets, gradually turning over more and more pages of closely packed names before glancing up at Genscher to comment 'Pure nonsense of course ….., for the most part. Sadly. Rather flattering though for a man of my age!' This throwaway comment was delivered with remarkable aplomb by Philip and caused much laughter among the audience.

The set was imaginatively designed on two levels joined by a spiral staircase and portrayed the Chancellor's office, Brandt's private apartments and even his special train with no set changes necessary apart from the movement of a few chairs. The audience's imaginations easily provided any further backgrounds needed. There was also a moment of great dramatic impact when, as the sounds of the Berlin Wall collapsing filled the auditorium, all the shelving units on stage simultaneously collapsed downwards, deluging the stage with a welter of files, documents, paperwork, etc symbolising the dramatic events occurring outside and the change this would bring to a future unified Germany.

Whilst at first glance this was a play about cold war politics at it's most grimmest, it proved to be far more than that - a study in betrayal, political in-fighting and treachery and also gave tremendous insight into a man who for all his faults at his height could silence an enormous crowd with just a few words or even none. As a final thought I was left wondering, was the more damaging betrayal that of Guillaume and the Eastern Security Services or was the one far nearer home, within his own party by those apparently loyal but serving their own ends?

We would like to thank Moira and Sydney Theatre Company for giving us permission to use this photograph

Democracy

Review by Sue Beach May 2005

Philip at stage door SydneyThis is the story of Willy Brandt and Gunter Guillaume, the man who becomes Brandt's personal assistant and whose actions ultimately cause Brandt's downfall.

The play begins with the election of Brandt as Chancellor, Philip as Brandt, can be found sitting in his chair awaiting the results. As it is announced that Brandt has been elected, he rises to acknowledge the cheering crowds, who you hear but do not see.

The action takes place in Brandt's offices. Gunter (Geoff Kelso) arrives and with his eagerness to please and nervous boyish charm, he starts to worm his way into the office, gradually gaining the confidence of those around him while meeting with Arno, his Stasi controller. At first Brandt finds him irritating and wants him removed, he likens him to "meatballs in fat" but ultimately even Brandt succumbs to his charm. Guillaume's naivety about the consequences of his actions, his boyish excitement at getting so close to Brandt comes across well from Kelso. By the end I felt sorry for him, as he is finally unmasked, because only then does he realise the enormity of his actions as the man he has come to admire so much is forced to resign.

Philip as Brandt, commands the stage throughout, delivering the speeches with clarity and conviction, his wonderful voice resounding around the whole auditorium. He plays 'angst' so well and Brandt is a complex character, whose depressive moods are given such depth by Philip, sitting in his chair not speaking to anyone, drinking copious glasses of wine, which are topped up by his ever present bodyguard. His facial expressions spoke volumes. He was awesome, particularly when he held out his hands with palms facing down, to calm the crowds, from where I was sitting his hands looked huge!

John Gaden was wonderful as Herbert "Uncle" Wehner. His portrayal of this political manipulator, in such a gentlemanly manor, was superb.

The set was a simple design, split into two levels, with a spiral staircase in the centre. The upper level was Brandt's office, a chair stands alone, this is where he delivers his speeches in one scene and the next can be found sitting in melancholic contemplation. The lower level has desks and chairs with files lining the walls, which when the fall of the Berlin Wall is heard, the shelving dramatically collapses downwards sending all the files to the floor. The chairs even become Brandt's special touring train. To the side of the stage, is a table and chairs as if in a café or bar, this is where Gunter and Arno meet throughout the play as Gunter slips from the role of spy to confidant.

This play held my attention throughout, it was fast moving, with moments of humour and by the end you were left thinking if Guillaume was really the cause of Brandt's downfall, or did others have a hand it in as well.?

We would like to thank would like to thank Sue for taking the time to write and send us the wondeful review and photographs.


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