Descent into the abyss of the Holocaust

Can't Take It With You (BBC2)

THE BBC4 import Days That Shook The World is a more thoughtful, more responsible historical version of BBC1's My Worst Week, the tabloid-style series recalling the horrid things that had befallen celebrities like Hugh Grant and George Michael.

Kristallnacht, the first world-shaking event, could hardly be more different - or more serious. November 9, 1938, was the day that began "the descent into the abyss of the Holocaust", as the narrator put it.

In California, the first full-length cartoon film Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs was being shown. In New York, Orson Welles was preparing for the Martian invasion in his War Of The Worlds. China was facing invasion by Japanese imperial forces.

In Germany, Adolf Hitler was sitting down to dinner when news reached him that the third secretary to the German Ambassador in Paris had been shot. The 17-year-old who pulled the trigger was a Jew.

This set off the narrator again to tell us that "for this single act, Jews will be made to pay a million-fold with their homes, business, freedom and lives". This underlining of the situation was unnecessary. The terrible facts spoke for themselves as Goebbels used a dinner speech to light the touch paper to the Holocaust.

The programme reconstructed incidents from that night as gangs, given the green light by Goebbels' words, terrorised Jews and destroyed their property. Synagogues were burnt to the ground. Jewish men were arrested and sent to concentration camps.

If Kristallnacht was evidence of the evil that men can do, Can't Take It With You continues to demonstrate that greed is a potent force too - especially when a dead singer's $30m fortune is involved.

Jamaican reggae star Bob Marley left no will when he died, aged 36, in 1981. Legally that meant 55 per cent of his estate went to his widow Rita and the remaining 45 per cent to his 11 children (four by his wife, a further seven with seven different women).

It would have rested there if documents hadn't been produced claiming he wanted 98 per cent to go to Rita. That left 600,000 dollars rather than the expected 13m dollars to share between Marley's children.

It came as no surprise that an American lawyer was involved in helping some mothers to get a better deal for Marley's children. There always seems a legal eagle ready to help in such cases.

It should have ended when Chris Blackwell, the Island Records founder who discovered Marley, bought the singer's estate and returned it to his family.

But it didn't. The Wailers and his co-writer are claiming a share too. The case comes up next year. Marley's message of one love, one people seems as far away as ever.

ION by Param Vir and David Lan, Gala Theatre, Durham.

AN audience at Durham's Gala Theatre was given a treat of epic proportions when the premier of Param Vir's Ion rolled into town.

Set in the Temple of Apollo in Delphi, the opera follows the emotional journey of a mother Creusa and son Ion as they rediscover each other after a long separation.

David Lan's interpretation of Euripides' epic drama is set to the idiosyncratic music of Param Vir, in a score which faithfully reflects a gamut of emotions, distinguishing at the same time between gods, mortals and slaves.

Durham University-educated tenor Michael Bennett took the lead role, making his homecoming performance. His portrayal of the youthful Ion, who was abandoned as a child at birth, was both animated and energetic; his voice unfaltering, as it handled the high notes with an icy clarity, while dressing delicate passages with a superlative sensitivity.

Soprano Rita Cullis packed a powerful performance as mother Creusa, though at times demanding passages made for difficult diction.

A chorus of servants provided some magical moments, while North-East baritone Graeme Danby added his mellifluous tones as Creusa's husband, Xuthus.

After trying to kill each other, Ion and Creusa discover they are son and mother, a defining moment conveyed with utter conviction.

The chamber orchestra, conducted by Michael Rafferty, played brilliantly.

The opera was concluded with a striking tableaux. The gods would have approved - the audience certainly did.

Gavin Engelbrecht

Published: ??/??/2003