Taking Sides is Ronald Harwood’s first piece about the conflict between art and politics during the Second World War.

Premiered in 1995, Taking Sides deals with an investigation into the conductor Wilhelm Furtwangler, who remained conductor of the Berlin Philharmonic during the Third Reich, becoming highly prized by Hitler as the cultural jewel in his crown. After the war he became the target for vigorous interrogation by the crude, apparently uncultured Major Steve Arnold, who had witnessed the horros of Belsen. 

This production of Taking Sides, which has already played at Chichester Festival Theatre, is produced alongside Harwood’s companion piece, Collaboration, with a shared cast led by Michael Pennington and David Horovitch. The two plays run in repertoire at the Duchess theatre. 

Harwood is the multi-award-winning playwright of Quartet, Mahler’s Conversion, An English Tragedy and The Dresser, which he adapted into a screenplay. His other work for film includes the Oscar and BAFTA-winning screenplay for The Pianist and the recent The Diving Bell And The Butterfly. 

For more about Taking Sides at the Duchess theatre, read the First Night Feature.