A Bright Room Called Day - Theatre Review

Last Friday, I had the pleasure of attending Leeds Art's Centre's preview of Tony Kushner's A Bright Room Called Day, hosted by All Hallows' Church and directed by Marlowe Mitchell.

As a person relatively unfamiliar with 1930's theatre (my own area of research being Early Modern theatre), my preparation to attend this production was unusually scant. In Shakespeare's time, theatregoers often knew what to expect when attending a play, but for a piece from the 20th century, I opted to go in blind: no research, no context, and no reading the script beforehand. Luckily for me, the programme, created by Jonah Wild, assisted with filling in the gaps in my knowledge about 1930s Germany by providing a brief overview of the play's various iterations, and the historical context in which it is brought to life.

The play is set in 1932-33 in Berlin, where we meet a group of artists at the protagonist's apartment, where all the action takes place. Agnes Eggling, tenant of the apartment who works as a "bit-part player in the German film industry," played by Lauren Wellburn, provides us with a great range of emotion as she battles with the intersection between her political beliefs and her desire to stay safe in a dangerous climate. Among her friends include artist Annabella Gotchling (Vic Bingham), Paulinka Erdness (Emily Guy), Gregor Bazwald (Jay Lockwood) and Vealtninc Husz (Jack Pickup), the latter being a Hungarian filmmaker whose characterisation I found to be a little confusing. I believe the intent of the character is to be angry at the world, especially considering the loss of his eye during the communist revolt in 1919, but unfortunately, Pickup's interpretation comes across as a little comic book villain-esque. 

As the events in the 1930s ensue, we simultaneously observe two young adults in the 1990s move into Agnes' apartment. Zillah Katz (Laura Marshall), an open communist whose costume design does a great job of demonstrating the ranges of political freedom between the two time periods, moves from Leeds to Berlin for reasons that are not made too explicit. She is accompanied by Roland, played by Theo Devine, who only speaks German, and a translation is provided via a projection on the back of the stage. Devine does a wonderful job of communicating his intentions to an English speaking audience through his expressive and emphatic acting. Finally, we meet Xillah (Parul Hiran), a new character added to the play by Kushner in 2016, when he rewrote it as a commentary on Donald Trump's rise to power. Xillah acts as an audience surrogate, helping us to understand the similarities between Nazi Germany and Trump's America, and the warning signs we must look out for. Other minor characters include Rosa Malek (Imogen O'Connor) and Emil Traum (Spike Marshall), two "minor functionaries in the German Communist Party," The Devil (Jennifer Becker), and Die Alte (Margaret Savage), "a mystery".

While all characters were well cast, four stood out to me in particular. Firstly, Xillah, "someone watching the play, in 2026, with the audience" as portrayed by Parul Hirani, could not have received better casting. Coming from India with a background in many countries, Hirani is the antithesis of modern fascist hatred: a person of colour. I found Hirani's appearance and accent to be incredibly impactful, especially as the person who knows the future and is the most critical of fascism, specifically that of Donald Trump coming to power in the modern day. The difficulties that people of colour must tackle today, especially with the rise of ICE in the US, and anti-'immigrant' movements in the UK as purported by far-right ideologies was powerful and resonating.

Secondly, Jennifer Becker's performance of Gottfried Swetts, "The Devil, possibly," was a joy to witness. A powerful woman who commanded the room, Mitchell's rendition of the Devil is elderly, reserved until provoked, and outright terrifying to witness in those circumstances. Though only present for one scene, that scene was among my favourites, and I selfishly wished to see more of the Devil merely to appreciate Becker's acting. 

Of all characters, Jay Lockwood's interpretation of Gregor (Baz) Bazwald, a member of the Berlin Institute for Human Sexuality and homosexual man, impacted me the most. I had the pleasure of seeing Lockwood perform as the Ghost of Christmas Past in LAC's production of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens in 2025, and it was wonderful to see him on stage again, this time in a more challenging role. Lockwood's quiet strength shone through a character that, in my opinion, suffers the most throughout the play. Lockwood shines a light on an often forgotten aspect of the Nazi regime: that homosexuals were one of the first demographics to be persecuted, a fact also highlighted in the programme, along with transgender and disabled people. Most of the limited humorous moments come through Lockwood, a welcome relief as he experiences abusive treatment by the Nazi's, and he brings a kind of inspiring dark optimism to what is a tragic story. My only wish was that Lockwood equalled the powerful acting that comes from his voice and demeanour all the way to his facial expressions.

Finally, Paulinka Erdnuss, a "minor rising star in the German film industry" played by Emily Guy, was the standout star of the show. A bubbly woman wearing the latest fashion, Guy put all her skills and energy into this performance, and I was surprised to find out that this is her first time on stage in 15 years. The hiatus has clearly had no effect on her ability to perform with an easy confidence and exceptional range of emotion. I hope to see much more of her in future productions.

The backstage team should also be highly commended for this performance. Makeup artist Caitlin Schippers does a fantastic job in directing the makeup for Paulinka and the Devil in particular. The costuming department and set design, headed by Mia Thompson, is high quality and very effective in helping set the scene for both the 1930s and the 1990s concurrently. The tech teams also do a commendable job, especially with the use of Mitchell and Logan Arthur's projections to provide extra context and help set the scene. In a world succumbing to AI, it was refreshing and reassuring to see an artist's impression of a window to help set the time of day, mood and weather. So too, the use of archival footage of real-world history such as the rise of the Nazi party, and more modern acts of demonstration and political violence such as the January 6 Capitol attack were highly effective.

In conclusion, I give Leeds Arts Centre's A Bright Room Called Day 4.5 stars out of 5. Taking into account the incredible set design, projections, makeup, costuming and moving monologues, unfortunately I am prevented from giving this performance 5 stars due to some characterisations that did not work for me personally, minor slip ups of forgetting lines, coming in too early and script repetition. These minor issues I'm sure will have been ironed out by the time we hit show week however. A moving and inspiring play, the time and effort that everyone has put into this production is palpable, and one of the best choices of theatre in the current political climate. I cannot wait to see what LAC does next!

★★★★ ½

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Thank you to Leeds Arts Centre for inviting me to review A Bright Room Called Day! Shows begin on Wednesday through to Saturday at The Carriageworks Theatre. Book your tickets here: https://www.carriageworkstheatre.co.uk/whats-on/a-bright-room-called-day-5q6n

Photos by Mark Hillyer