Alone in Berlin

Hans Fallada, Alistair Beaton

• Publisher: Methuen Drama
• Year: 2020
• ISBN:
  9781350172425
• Edition: 1
• Topic: Media & Performing Arts
• Subtopic: Theatre Playwriting

A gripping portrait of life in wartime Berlin and a vividly theatrical study of how paranoia can warp a society gripped by the fear of the night-time knock on the door. Based on true events, Hans Fallada's Alone In Berlin follows a quietly courageous couple, Otto and Anna Quangel who, in dealing with their own heartbreak, stand up to the brutal reality of the Nazi regime. With the smallest of acts, they defy Hitler's rule with extraordinary bravery, facing the gravest of consequences. Translated and Adapted by Alistair Beaton ( Feelgood, The Trial Of Tony Blair ), this timely story of the moral power of personal resistance sees the Gestapo launch a massive hunt for the perpetrators and Otto and Anna finding themselves players in a deadly game of cat and mouse. This edition was published to coincide with the world premiere at Royal and Derngate Theatre in February 2020.

Act One

Half-lit behind a scrim, Otto and Anna Quangel sit at a table in their apartment. We begin to see The Nameless of Berlin, shadowy figures beyond time.

A striking image of Berlin’s Victory Column appears, with the golden statue on top. The statue fades leaving only the column as Golden Elsie enters.

Elsie (sings)

A hundred and fifty years

Nameless (whisper)

Berlin.

Elsie (sings)

A hundred and fifty years

Nameless (whisper)

Berlin.

Elsie (sings)

I’ve been around

Atop that bloody column

Cheerfully commemorating

Glorious German victories in war.

Nameless (whisper)

Berlin.

Elsie (sings)

But I have seen the darkness

I have seen the light,

I have seen Berlin

Enveloped in perpetual night

I have seen the price of victory

And seen on every square

And every street

The meaning of defeat.

The column fades and disappears.

Nameless (whisper)

Berlin, Berlin, Berlin.

Elsie (sings)

I’ve had a bird’s eye view

Of this my broken city

East and West,

Have seen the worst of humankind

And now and then the best.

Berliners, having lived through

What they’ve lived through,

Don’t show me much respect.

In fact they call me Golden Elsie.

(Spoken, with underscoring.) Golden Elsie

In that darkly mocking way

Berliners are so good at.

But I don’t mind at all

In fact I rather like it

This, the living spirit of Berlin.

Nameless (whisper)

Berlin, Berlin.

Elsie (sings)

I’ve seen enough of war

To never hail another conquest in my life.

So now I’m trading in my wings

For freedom to look back

At one event from history,

(Spoken, underscored.) A true event,

Unnoticed midst the turbulence of time

And yet significant

For what it says to those

In any time or any place

Who in the dark hours of the night

Wake up in fear.

And look away

And then decide

That fear must be confronted

And darkness told it cannot have its day.

Nameless

Berlin.

A loud, urgent knocking is heard.

Otto and Anna’s Apartment

Scrim out. It is 1940. Lights up on Otto and Anna, and on Klaus Borkhausen at their door, a bottle of Schnapps in his hand.

Elsie and The Nameless leave.

Anna has been setting the table for three people. She and Otto stand frozen. Who could be at the door? The knocking is repeated. They look at one another in apprehension.

Borkhausen Herr Quangel! Frau Quangel! Are you there? (Knocks again.)

Otto (relieved) It’s only Borkhausen.

Borkhausen Herr Quangel! (Knocks again.)

Anna (setting the table) Ignore him.

Otto I don’t think we should.

Borkhausen Hello?!

Anna Just get rid of him, Otto. Trudi will be here soon and we don’t want –

Otto All right, all right.

More knocking.

Yes, yes, coming.

Anna Don’t invite him in.

Otto No, no, of course not. (Goes to door, opens it.)

Borkhausen (loud and cheerful) Heil Hitler!

Otto Heil Hitler. Herr Borkhausen, I’m afraid –

Borkhausen Good to see you, Herr Quangel, good to see you! (Breezes past Otto into the apartment.)

Otto (follows him) If you don’t mind, this really isn’t a good moment.

Borkhausen Ah, Frau Quangel, good evening, good evening! Heil Hitler!

Anna (with her back to him) Good evening, Herr Borkhausen.

Borkhausen Heil Hitler!

Anna ignores the hint.

Otto Please. We’re expecting a visitor. If you could possibly –?

Borkhausen Come on, get some glasses out. Got a bottle of good stuff here. We’ve got to celebrate.

Anna And what do we have to celebrate?

Borkhausen You don’t know? You haven’t heard?

Otto No. What?

Borkhausen The French have surrendered! Just announced on the wireless. Fantastic, eh? (Looks and points.) Them glasses would do. Just think: the Sudetenland, Czechoslovakia, Austria, Poland. And now France. Soon it’ll be England. Another couple of months and the Tommies’ll be done for. There’s no stopping us. We’re going to rule the world. We’ll all be rich.

Anna I don’t want to be rich.

Borkhausen Don’t want to be rich?!

Anna Not by starting wars. Not by killing people. Getting rich that way’s not worth a single death.

Borkhausen Hey, Quangel, you should tell your old lady to be more careful. She could end up in the camps for talk like that. Good job I’m not the sort of man who informs on his neighbours, eh? (Laughs.) Oh, don’t worry, it won’t go any further. Still, pity you don’t want to celebrate.

Otto Oh, we would, we would. It’s just that we’re expecting a –

Borkhausen A visitor, yeah, yeah, you said. (Pulls Otto aside, speaks confidentially.) You couldn’t lend me five Marks, could you? The kids don’t have a thing to eat today. The wife’ll break my balls if I don’t give her some shopping money. You’ll get it back next Friday, ...

Table of contents

• Cover
• Half-Title Page
• Title Page
• Contents
• Alistair Beaton
• Royal & Derngate Northampton
• York Theatre Royal
• Oxford Playhouse
• Alone in Berlin
• Characters
• Act One
• Act Two
• Copyright