REVIEWED BY DONNA BAILEY-THOMPSON

I did not want to see this World Premier but I'm glad I did. PRESENT COMPANY EXCLUDED is expertly written, meticulously directed, and appropriately performed.

PRESENT COMPANY EXCLUDED is based upon fact, specifically what happened in a rural villa -- Roth, Germany -- to its five Jewish families when Hitler's poison was unleashed.

The universal, ordinary aspect of the Roth family establishes a bond between us. When our problems are similar to theirs, we connect. We laugh at family members’ foibles. When aberrant political pressures become evident, their grandfather becomes worried, he speaks of having “a bad feeling.” From the advantage of history, we know what awaits them, the accuracy of his “bad feeling.”

That’s why I didn’t want to see the play, becoming emotionally forced to be passive, just another pair of eyes and ears in the audience. More unsettling was questioning how aggressive I might have been under the same circumstances that beset the villagers of Roth. A counter argument looks upon my don’t-want-to-see-it position as selfish, wanting to skip reminders of what happened when reality demonstrates that unless we learn from history – ours, theirs – we are destined to repeat it; and the more egregious the act, the more difficult it is to willingly participate in a memory reminder.

So, why am I glad I saw the play? Because its message was delivered by not beating me over the head, by not flogging me with guilt. I was reminded of the behavior of our own political parties which is almost enough punishment in itself. (I semi jest.)

Actor Ariel Rothberg fills the young Herbert Roth with pure, over-the-top adolescence angst. Whatever he doesn’t understand, he questions. If the adults in his family offer remarks that are not 100 per cent accurate, he challenges them. His logic bedevils. His targets are flummoxed. He’s obsessed with two things: his love for playing soccer and pronouncements attributed to an infallible God. (“Why did God take away my mother?”)

When the play opens (and the memories tumble forth), Herbert’s mother is dying. Summoned to her bedside, Herbert is totally bewildered. Only the mother speaks: “Herbert, you are a good boy.” Spontaneous pickup soccer games with his two close friends, Ernst (Tristan Donahue) and Jacob (Casey Geiger) help him balance his addiction to the game with his incessant questions. Some of Herbert’s most exasperating exchanges are with his father, Markus Roth (Josh Bogin). Their interaction stops short of a comedy routine thanks to the self-discipline of playwright, director, and actors. The restraints incorporated into this production impart an edge that lessor lights might feel compelled to exaggerate.

Through loudspeakers, rousing marching songs, pamphlets, and the power of whispered hatefulness, Roth’s bucolic serenity is shattered. Jews are vilified. Christians are glorified. The Nazi’s obliteration of those they labeled undesirables begins. Herbert is more confounded than ever: his best friends, Christians, are coerced into joining Hitler Youth. When Ernst appears wearing a swastika arm band, the hatefulness inherent in that symbol made me shudder.

There is a bright light in the cast, Toni Stern (Monica Giordano) a widow who becomes Herbert’s stepmother. Her optimism overwhelms the defeatism of Herbert (“There’s no future for a Jew in Germany”) that is echoed by his father and grandfather. This no-nonsense Bruenhilda who disciplines Herbert (“Sometimes you need to let people finish talking [before interrupting]”), keeps seeking visas to America until she gets three – her new husband, stepchild, and herself, but sadly, none for Herz Stern, the grandfather (Ken Guerin). (Toni Stern lived to age 99 ½.)

The insidiousness of political propaganda lives on, the desire to tamper with long-held rights is a timely reminder by PRESENT COMPANY EXCLUDED of the need to speak truth to power.