Watch on the Rhine (play)
| Watch on the Rhine | |
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First edition 1941
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| Written by | Lillian Hellman |
| Date premiered | April 1, 1941 |
| Place premiered |
Martin Beck Theatre, New York City, New York |
| Original language | English |
| Genre | Drama |
| Setting | The living room of the Farrelly country house, about 20 miles from Washington, D.C., in late spring 1940 |
Watch on the Rhine is 1941 American play by Lillian Hellman. The play's "peculiar combination of drawing-room comedy in a genteel southern home with sinister corruption of the Nazi regime in Europe," in one estimation, "made for a unique and powerful drama." It won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award.
It is 1940, in late spring. For the past 17 years, the German-born engineer Kurt Muller and Sara, his American wife of 20 years, have lived modestly in Europe and raised three children. He has been deeply involved in anti-Fascist activities in Spain and Germany. The Mullers and their children (Joshua, Babette, and Bodo) are visiting Sara's wealthy relatives, the Farrellys, her brother David and mother Fanny, in Washington, D.C. Sara tells the Farrellys she and her family hope to live peacefully in the U.S.
The Farrellys have another houseguest, Teck de Brancovis, an impoverished Romanian count "with good manners and odious character" who has been conspiring with the Germans while living in Washington. He searches the Mullers' bedroom and in a locked suitcase discovers a gun and $23,000 intended to finance underground operations in Germany.
The Mullers learn that Max Freidech, a member of the resistance, has been arrested in Germany. Because Freidech once rescued Kurt from the Gestapo, Kurt plans to return to Germany to assist Max and those arrested with him.
Teck threatens to expose Kurt's plans to the Nazis unless he is paid $10,000 to keep silent. Kurt kills Teck. David and Fanny agree to help him escape capture by the American police.
Kurt has been gone for months and has not contacted his family. His son Joshua announces he plans to search for his father as soon as he turns 18. Sara, distraught at the possibility of losing her son as well as her husband, resolves to be brave when the time comes for Joshua to leave.
Hellman wrote Watch on the Rhine in 1940, following the Nazi-Soviet Non-Aggression Pact of August 1939. The play's call for a united international alliance against Hitler directly contradicted the Communist position at the time. Its title comes from a German patriotic song, "Die Wacht am Rhein".
Produced and directed by Herman Shumlin, Watch on the Rhine premiered on Broadway at the Martin Beck Theatre on April 1, 1941, and ran for 378 performances, closing February 21, 1942. Scenic design for the three-act drama was by Jo Mielziner; costumes were designed by Helene Pons; Paul Bowles composed the incidental music.
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