By Aline Mahrud

WORTH A LOOK?: ***1/2

WHEN?: Saturday 20 April (matinee) and runs through 20 April 2024

What would you do if you found a painting apparently by Hitler in the attic of your dead father-in-law’s home while clearing it?

• Read on for reasons including how Nachtland poses lots of difficult questions with answers ranging from the unpalatable to the freakishly bizarre

In this play written by German Marius von Mayenburg and translated from its original language, the discovery is made by Judith, who is Jewish, given life by the feisty Jenna Augen.

Its presence deepens the rift between grieving brother and sister Philipp, an infuriating John Heffernan (What If If Only, Royal Court), and Nicola, in a part initially announced as being performed by Romola Garai (Measure For Measure, Young Vic) but eventually cast as Dorothea Myer-Bennett.

Initially debate focuses on the artistic merit of an oil painting of a deserted church but then whether the value of a work can ever be judged without knowing the identity of the artist?

Jane Horrocks’ (If You Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Young Vic) intentionally 1-note art expert Evamaria arrives to offer her professional insight and, when the prospect of the piece being worth a considerable amount of money is mooted, Judith argues they should burn it rather than profit from Hitler’s name.

von Mayenburg has worked previously with director Thomas Ostermeier and we were reminded of his take on the recent An Enemy Of The People in London’s West End as Nachtland lurched ever faster from the realms of possibility to outrageousness, continually trumping itself until its ludicrous finale.

Horrocks’ (Instructions For Correct Assembly, Royal Court) Evamaria finds potential buyer Kahl, a ridiculous Angus Wright (Hamlet, Almeida), who arrives in see-through underwear showing his bottom and departs after being squirted with deodorant we can smell from our 2nd row seat.

In a ridiculous sub-plot son-in-law Fabian, an underused Gunnar Cauthery (Dear England, National Theatre) making the most of an odd role, is hospitalised after contracting tetanus while searching in a bin for evidence of the painting’s Nazi past.

This is satire which allows director Patrick Marber (Don Juan In Soho, Wyndhams Theatre) room for his characters to reflect on Israel’s relationship with Palestine exposing horrid truths about attitudes which ring ever more true today in the present climate.

Nachtland is an invented German word suggesting a place of eternal darkness and, although there are lots of laughs here, it is often at the excruciating nature of the subject matter and the ever more absurd plot.

We had little idea of the nature of the piece coming into it but Nachtland poses lots of difficult questions and its answers range from the unpalatable to the freakishly bizarre which made for an entertaining if difficult matinee watch.

• Main picture via Facebook courtesy Young Vic Tickets
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