TAIPEI (Taiwan News) — “The Making of Berlin” brings a tale of resilience and music from the ashes of war to life, blending documentary and theater at the National Taichung Theater Friday through Sunday.
The Berlin Philharmonic, one of the world’s most celebrated orchestras, recently performed in Taiwan with a live broadcast, allowing audiences to enjoy its music from home. Yet more than 80 years ago, the orchestra faced far graver circumstances: the final months of World War II.
After Adolf Hitler rose to power in 1933, the Philharmonic was drawn into Nazi propaganda, performing at official events ranging from the 1936 Olympic Games opening ceremony to the dictator’s birthday celebrations, according to a National Taichung Theater press release.
In the theater production, audiences follow the story of Friedrich Mohr, the orchestra’s stage manager during the war, who “recalls” planning a radio broadcast from seven air raid bunkers just before Berlin fell in 1945 — “not for Hitler, but for Berlin itself.”
Mohr’s narrative, including the forced dismissal of Jewish musicians, colleagues’ silence, and conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler’s secret efforts to protect those at risk, guides viewers through the orchestra’s difficult history. “All along, you had two choices: sit down or stand up, until one day, you realized you no longer had a choice,” Mohr reflects.
Yet as the performance unfolds, it gradually becomes clear that the story is a crafted illusion. Friedrich Mohr is, in fact, a fictional character portrayed by actor Stefan Lennert, and the events attributed to him, including the final concert, the seven bunkers, and the moral reckonings, were deliberately invented.
Using documentary theater techniques, the Belgian company Berlin creates the impression of historical truth, inviting audiences to consider how memory, storytelling, and artistic interpretation shape our understanding of history.
“The Making of Berlin” is the final installment in the Berlin documentary theater group’s Holocene cycle, exploring how a city’s history and memory shape its people. By blending fact and fiction, film and stage, the production offers a tribute to a city defined by its past.
