This new, ninety-five-minute play takes a brief glimpse at the life and work of “Leni” Riefenstahl, the actress, dancer, photographer, and filmmaker who influenced such luminaries as Jean Cocteau and Steven Spielberg through her use of music and light. However, Riefenstahl was a friend of Hitler in the early 1930s and directed two Nazi propaganda films for him, so she is a controversial figure, and never ‘made it’ in Hollywood after 1945, even though she was not indicted for war crimes and successfully fought nearly fifty libel actions regarding her Nazi association.
A Thing of Beauty is a fictionalised account of Riefenstahl agreeing to give an extended, in-depth interview to the BBC in the summer of 1972, when she would have been 70 years of age. (She did, in fact, give an interview to the BBC much later in life, shortly before she died in 2003.)
What is evident from experiencing this play is that it is superbly acted and directed throughout.
Jonathan Lewis, as co-author and director, ensures that the play is given great energy while also allowing the audience time for reflection. Each scene swiftly melds into the next, most of the cast sitting at the side of the stage throughout and helping swiftly move furniture, props, and costumes, so that A Thing of Beauty is almost cinematic in its effect. The use of a solo ‘cello, expressively played by Oona Lowther, greatly aids the creation of mood and helps link the scenes, especially when combined with Simon Slater’s sound design.
The ensemble cast works together flawlessly. Imogen Stubbs inhabits the role of “Leni” and is very believable, especially when she is ranting(!), but also in her quieter moments, the role having been written and directed so that she comes across as a surprisingly sympathetic character. She is supposed to be “fuelled by (her) own ambition, fear, lies, and ego… shocked by the thunderbolt of mutual desire“, but I found her, as portrayed by Stubbs, to have a much more subtle and manipulative personality.
Tony Bell, as Harry, the BBC interviewer, has a difficult task, as both playwrights (Wendy Oberman and Jonathan Lewis) have allotted him a rather two-dimensional character on which to build: he is supposed to be a recovering alcoholic who has ‘blotted his copybook’ with the Corporation too many times, and this is his last chance. To his great credit, Bell makes Harry believable, but it is because he is such a perceptive actor that he is able to overcome what he has been given. He is played as quite a bit younger than “Leni”.
The other roles are also in the hands of actors who know what they are doing, especially Billy, in charge of sound, a very convincing, warm, portrayal by Thomas Craig; we discover that he (Billy) suffered greatly at the hands of the Nazis, but is still prepared to give “Leni” the benefit of the doubt about her political views.
Tony Boncza (Jack) is also given a rather stereotyped role, which again he almost succeeds in playing believably, and the cast is completed by Sophie McMahon, Harry Bradley and Harry Rundle, each of whom is very credible, aided by Juliette DeMoulin’s imaginative costuming and inventive set design which uses historic video to aid the audience’s understanding, plus Mark Dymock’s lighting.
Although it has flaws, I enjoyed this play very much; the publicity blurb asks, “Can we… should we ever detach art from the artist. And in this time of false truth, of cancelling, of revisionism, has it ever been more important to examine art as propaganda?” An impossible task in a play lasting one and a half hours, but one which gives much food for thought! Recommended!
Review by John Groves
In the Summer of 1972, Leni Riefenstahl agrees to an in-depth interview with Harry Adams, a BBC documentary superstar nursing his own demons. Leni, older than Harry by more than a comfortable number of years, and Harry, each of them fuelled by their own ambition, fear, lies and ego, are shocked by the thunderbolt of mutual desire.
A Thing of Beauty asks can we… should we… ever detach art from the artist. And in this time of false truth, of cancelling, of revisionism, has it ever been more important to examine art as propaganda?
Cast: Tony Bell, Tony Boncza, Harry Bradley, Thomas Craig, Sophie McMahon, Harry Rundle, Imogen Stubbs
Cellist: Oona Lowther
Written by Wendy Oberman and Jonathan Lewis
Directed by Jonathan Lewis
Assistant Director: Jessie Millson
A THING OF BEAUTY
Theatre at the Tabard
25 February to 1 March 2026
