Himmelweg (Camino del cielo) (2002-2003), Juan Mayorga Ruano

Productions in Spanish

Himmelweg (Camino del cielo) (Jorge Rivera)

Details: Director: Jorge Rivera
Dates: 17 October 2003
Venue: Teatro Alameda
Location: Malaga, Spain

Himmelweg (Sergi Belbel)

Details: Director: Sergi Belbel
Dates: 4 February 2004
Venue: Barcelona branch of the Sociedad General de Autores y Editores (SGAE)
Location: Barcelona, Spain

Himmelweg (Camino del cielo) (Antonio Simon)

Details

Director: Antonio Simon
Dates: 18 November 2004
Venue: Teatro María Guerrero
Location: Madrid, Spain

Critical response

The quality of the acting was praised in this performance. José Pedro Carrión, who played Gottfried, was singled out for his versatile and moving performance (Villán 2004).

Villán, Javier. 2004. 'Himmelweg. Camino del cielo', El Cultural, 25 November (in Spanish)

Further information

This production was elaborately staged. The ramp up the 'way to heaven' and the station clock were present.

Himmelweg (Camino del cielo) (Antonio Fernández)

Details: Director: Antonio Fernández
Dates: from 1 June 2005 to 2 June 2005
Venue: Teatro Apolo
Location: Almería, Spain
Further information: This production was performed at the Teatro Apolo at the University of Almeria.

Camino del cielo (Himmelweg) (Jorge Eines)

Details: Director: Jorge Eines
Dates: 14 March 2007
Venue: Teatro San Martín
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
Further information: In this version, puppets were used as props to reinforce the manner in which the Commandant manipulates the Jewish characters.

Himmelweg (Camino del cielo) (Matthew Earnest)

Details: Director: Matthew Earnest
Production company: Burning Coal Theatre Company
Dates: from 22 January 2009 to 8 February 2009
Venue: Meymandi Theatre
Location: Rayleigh, North Carolina, United States
Further information: This production was performed in Spanish and English on alternate nights during its run.

Productions in English

Way to Heaven (Ramin Gray)

Details

Director: Ramin Gray
Based on translation: Way to Heaven (2005) by David Johnston
Dates: from 16 June 2005 to July 2005
Venue: Royal Court Theatre
Location: London, United Kingdom

Critical response

Unlike other productions of the play, the Royal Court production was subject to criticism because some reviewers felt uneasy about the subject matter. Michael Billington, writing in The Guardian, noted that he was made ‘distinctly uneasy’ by the play (Billington 2005). Similarly, Charles Spencer in The Telegraph wrote that ‘there is an uneasy feeling that the dramatist is playing games on the edge of a moral abyss’ (Spencer 2005). Despite reservations about the use of the Holocaust as a dramatic subject, however, the play was considered to be highly effective as a theatrical piece. John Peter in The Sunday Times noted how the play’s theatricality relates to contemporary life, stating, ‘Life is a dream, a nightmare. We are doomed puppets, manipulated by powers we have partly created. Knowledge is useless, understanding is impossible’ (Peter 2005). The reviewer for The Times praised the translation, noting, ‘Mayorga’s play, in David Johnston’s lucid translation, emphasises starkly the propensity of human beings to blind themselves to the fate of their fellow creatures’ (Marlowe 2005).

Billington, Michael. 2005. ‘Way to Heaven’, The Guardian, 21 June
Marlowe, Sam. 2005. 'Way to Heaven', The Times, 22 June
Peter, John. 2005. 'Way to Heaven Review', The Sunday Times, 28 June
Spencer, Charles. 2005. ‘Uneasy Glimpses into the Abyss’, The Telegraph, 24 June, http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/theatre/3644208/Uneasy-glimpses-into-the-abyss.html [accessed January 2010] (Online Publication)

Further information

This version alternated between promenade theatre-style and using a small stage above the audience. Act 1 and act 2 took place amongst the audience. Acts 3 and 4 took place on stage as the Nazi Commandant addressed the audience and then he and Gottfried constructed their play-within-play. Act 5 moved the action down amongst the audience again. At the end the little girl, Raquel, sang a song in Yiddish.

Way to Heaven (Victor Bizzotto)

Details: Director: Victor Bizzotto
Based on translation: Way to Heaven (2005) by David Johnston
Dates: 8 February 2006
Venue: Fortyfivedownstairs Theatre Space
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Further information: This was a dramatised reading as part of the Theatre@Risk Festival.

Way to Heaven (Rachel O'Riordan Dormer)

Details: Director: Rachel O'Riordan Dormer
Based on translation: Way to Heaven (2005) by David Johnston
Dates: 18 April 2006
Venue: The Brian Friel Studio Theatre
Location: Belfast, United Kingdom
Further information: This was a dramatised reading performed as part of Queen’s University’s ‘Betwixt and Between: Memory and Cultural Translation’ conference (18-21 April 2006)

Way to Heaven (Joel Stone)

Details: Director: Joel Stone
Based on translation: Way to Heaven (2005) by David Johnston
Production company: New Jersey Repertory Company
Dates: 24 July 2006
Venue: New Jersey Repertory Company
Location: New Jersey, United States
Further information: This was a dramatised reading of the play.

Way to Heaven (David Horan)

Details

Director: David Horan
Based on translation: Way to Heaven (2005) by David Johnston
Production company: Galloglass
Dates: from 2 October 2006 to 18 November 2006
Venue: Civic Theatre
Location: Dublin, Ireland

Further information

This production toured Ireland, going to theatres in Clonmel, Kilmallock, Wexford, Kilkenny, Limerick, Dublin, Sligo and Cork.

In this version the same actor performed the role of the Commandant and the Red Cross Representative.

Way to Heaven (Matthew Earnest)

Details

Director: Matthew Earnest
Based on translation: Way to Heaven (2005) by David Johnston
Production company: Equilicuá Productions
Dates: from 9 May 2009 to 24 May 2009
Venue: Teatro Círculo
Location: New York, United States

Critical response

This production was very well-received. The critic for The New York Times called the play ‘a powerful illustration of how theatrical artifice can be pressed into the service of atrocity’ (Webster 2009).

The way in which the character of the Commandant was performed – as an affable and charismatic man – was considered particularly effective in that it conveyed a sense of how convincing the Nazis could be. In her review, Julie Congress articulates the disturbingly pleasant effect of this charismatic Nazi character:

The treatment of the Commandant is unlike any portrayal of a Nazi I have ever seen and Francisco Reyes gives a fascinating, idiosyncratic, stellar performance. The thing is - you want to like him, or at least want to be entertained by him. I have never before experienced fighting with myself while watching a play. He gesticulates excessively and appears to have ADHD. He appears cultured and learned, handsome and funny. (Congress 2009)

Congress, Julie. 2009. ‘Way to Heaven’, www.nytheatre.com, 10 May (Online Publication)
Webster, Andy. 2009. ‘Nazi Camp Persists in Charade of Decency’, The New York Times, 20 May

Way to Heaven (Tanya Goldberg)

Details: Director: Tanya Goldberg
Based on translation: Way to Heaven (2005) by David Johnston
Production company: Ride On Theatre Company & Griffin Theatre Company
Dates: from 14 April 2010 to 8 May 2010
Venue: SBW Stables Theatre
Location: Sydney, Australia
Further information: A video of director Tanya Goldberg giving her views on the production is available by clicking on the Way to Heaven section of the Griffin Theatre website.

Way to Heaven (Himmelweg) (Matthew Earnest)

Details: Director: Matthew Earnest
Based on translation: Himmelweg (Camino del cielo) (2002) by , Way to Heaven (2005) by David Johnston
Production company: Repertorio Español
Dates: from 24 February 2011 to 14 May 2011
Venue: Gramercy Arts Theatre
Location: New York, United States
Further information: This production was in English with a simultaneous Spanish translation.