The Investigation: Oratorio in 11 Cantos by Peter Weiss

Peter Weiss' The Investigation is a powerful and deliberately stark retelling of the Frankfurt war crime trials. It was premiered in 13 theatres across East and West Germany simultaneously in 1965 and is a dramatic reconstruction based on actual evidence given in those trials regarding the Auschwitz atrocities. Weiss edited the material but essentially the play presents the testimony of those involved; those facts and figures described by the nameless witnesses being the centre of the play's power. It is a shattering piece about the importance of truth and the need for justice, and is a real challenge for those students wishing to tackle it. Its adult subject material means it is suitable for A Level or potentially upper ability GCSE Drama scripted units. This is a vital piece of theatre that needs rediscovery.

Context

The play is split into 11 cantos, which immediately link it to Dante's Inferno, and those cantos do give the play a chronological feel. The first deals with the arrival of the prisoners at the loading ramp, and then each section takes us further into the camp, culminating with final sections that deal with the use of cyclone B and the actual fire ovens. It is as if we are descending into a place that becomes more hellish as the scenes play out. The play is a piece of documentary theatre, and the scenes within each canto take place in the trial courtroom as the witnesses describe their experiences in the concentration camp. Prosecutors and defence lawyers interact with them, and the defendants accused.

The play's language is deliberately formal and descriptive, reflecting the courtroom setting of 1963 to 1965, but as the play takes us further into Auschwitz, it also becomes a study in the capacity of evil and those systems which allow individuals to believe that doing a job or following an order excuses them from responsibility. This is an outstanding example of the beginnings of verbatim theatre. The horrors of Auschwitz are brought to life by the frank retelling of its victim's memories.

Suggested practitioners

The descriptions of the camp and the atrocities that occurred there are precise. A terrifyingly vivid picture of the geography of the camp, dates and statistics, transportation, roles within it, the appalling experiments undertaken, the organisation of the ‘final solution’, and the conditions those held there lived and died in are painstaking and harrowingly clear. Consideration of Berkoff or Artaud influenced approaches, with physical theatre being used to make concrete the statements of the witnesses at the trials, are highly apt.

Most successful, though, has been the use of Grotowski's Poor Theatre to bring these events to life, and there are many very useful links between The Investigation and Grotowski's productions of Kordian and Akropolis in 1962. The Laboratory Theatre Company's use of a pile of metallic junk on stage during Akropolis which the actors then used and built into the concentration camp around them onstage during the production is just astonishing. Berkoff, Artaud and Grotowski's avoidance of any kind of naturalistic set design means that the shifting locations described in the play can be created physically by the actors or with multi-purpose props. Also, Artaud and Grotowski's ideas regarding immersing the spectators into the action and removing the barrier between them and the actors can heighten the impact of the piece considerably, placing the spectators within the environment of the camp.

Suggested approaches

It is vital that the students read the whole play and research Auschwitz and the Frankfurt trials. Performances must recognise the importance of clearly showing the courtroom and the camp, so a highly physical approach involving constantly moving and rebuilding locations during the performance is recommended. Placing the spectators within the environment of the camp immediately heightens their emotional response. By multi-roling the characters in the play, the cast can also highlight how the power relationships in the camp could suddenly change, and the unpredictable terror of that. The chilling moment in Canto 8 when the defendants laugh, despite having been accused of using fatal phenol injections, is a moment of pure horror and here, with an imaginative approach to staging and even forcing the spectators to move within the set design, those watching can shift from concentration camp victims to members of a jury. Simple pieces of costume can be used to show changes in character, and can be part of a pile of materials constantly onstage with the actors to use, move and discard when necessary.

Suggested resources

• An Introduction to the plays of Peter Weiss by Olaf Berwald
• The Theatre of Grotowski by Jennifer Kumiega
• Marat/Sade by Peter Weiss
• Reviews of Rwandan Theatre Company's The Investigation, and the production at the Megaw Theatre in 1985.