Gut-wrenching tour de force stuns audiences

Peter Feldman

Blonde Poison is one of the most profound and thought-provoking slices of theatre I’ve seen in a long time. What is so remarkable about this production, which is sensitively directed by Janna Ramos-Violante, is that it’s a one women show in which Fiona Ramsay inhabits a character with poise and passion.

Ramsay, a Naledi Theatre Award-winning actress, once again shows her mettle, as she adroitly evokes a dark, demonic era in history that will linger long in the memory.

Written by Gail Louw, the play delves deep into the psyche of a German Jewess, Stella Goldschlag, who survived the Nazi onslaught by collaborating with them. She became a “greifer” or “catcher” for the Gestapo by giving information and “ratting” on the Jews in hiding in Berlin.

Through her efforts hundreds of Jews were sent to the camps –  a painful memory that will torture her conscience forever.

Living illegally in the war-torn city, Stella is captured by the Nazis and is beaten and tortured before settling on a deal. She did this, the play reveals, not so much to save herself, but to save her elderly parents who were destined for the death camps.

Her decision to make this appalling choice forms the core of the production and is a subject that will certainly provoke debate on all levels. In a no-win situation such as this one, would one sacrifice one’s own people in order to save one’s parents?

We first meet Stella, now 70, in her apartment where she is awaiting the arrival of a journalist Paul (voiced by James Alexander), a childhood friend, who wants to interview her about her experiences. She sees this as her last chance for redemption.

She comes across as defensive, arrogant, cold and introspective. In the past she has refused all kinds of requests for comment. She has lost touch with family and friends, who have shunned her. She appears proud of what she has done to get by – or is she? We’re never quite sure, and that’s one of the strengths of Gail Louw’s script.

We learnt a great deal about Stella, her four husbands, her love for her parents and her luxury life in Berlin as approaching war clouds begin to descend.

She describes in detail her relationships with the various men in her life, including two forgers. One of them, named Hans, she marries. She reveals that in her relationships she was a gentle and tender lover.

We watch her emotional arc move from a loving daughter to a tortured, pitiful soul who betrayed her people and got sucked into the murky world of treachery and betrayal. The Gestapo dubbed her the Marilyn Monroe of Berlin and awarded her the alias Blonde Poison.

Fiona Ramsey is superb in the role. She commands the stage with an unrelenting force, using the incisive script with measured assurance. She is skilful in manipulating our emotions through a well-rounded, flesh and blood character. Her German-tinged accent is just the right side of Marlene Dietrich, a role she played in Miss Dietrich Regrets, which was from another Gail Louw script.

The actress holds her audience spellbound as they become observers to her state of inner turmoil, one that gives rise to so many moral and ethical questions.

Lighting, sound effects and an atmospheric set, all contribute immeasurably to a play that will sear the conscience.

Playwright Gail Louw comes from a Jewish background. The rich culture of her upbringing, her mother’s influence and in particular the death of her maternal grandparents in a concentration camp, helped shape this compelling work. It has already been translated into Hebrew and Hungarian.