THE STORY: April, 1945. The Nuremberg War Crimes Trials against the leaders of Nazi Germany are about to begin. Hermann Goering, in the place of Adolf Hitler, leads the accused and with his German counsel, prepares his defense. Drug free and healthy from a spartan imprisonment, Goering is once again the formidable man who more than any other made Hitler Chancellor of Germany and built the engines of the Third Reich. He defies the Tribunal with wit and ferocity, refuses to blame Hitler for his actions, denies the right of any conqueror to fairly prosecute the conquered, and foretells a disturbing future for crimes of war. As the horrors of what he is responsible for come to light, he demonically refuses to accept them as anything but the natural consequences of human conflict, and after manipulating his own suicidal escape from hanging, asks the audience, “What do you think men are?"
An exploration of the historical events surrounding Hermann Goering and the Nuremberg Trials in 1945, which offers to help us understand how we allow and view the events of today.
“2 is theater as it should be.” —Advocate.
“What is strongest about the play…is Mr. Linney’s perspective on history and its lessons…he has done substantial research and then with an artist’s eye analyzed the reality behind the myth.” —The New York Times.
“2…is an imaginative creation in documentary style of a character in the grip of the totalitarian mind-set…Romulus Linney’s revisionist history emerged as the leading contender for international attention.” —Philadelphia Inquirer.
