On a rainy Tuesday evening I ventured out to Orange Tree Theatre to see Tom Fool by celebrated German playwright Franz Xaver Kroetz in a translation by Estella Schmid and Anthony Vivis. Although, one of the most performed playwrights in his homeland, less frequently do we see his work staged in the UK and it is a welcome addition to the Orange Tree Theatre’s Recovery Season’s programming.
Kroetz works with a style of realism, that at its core, commentates on social oppression caused by a capitalist system prevailing in the 1970s, with a focus on the emotional toll it takes on families and individuals. He also has a nuanced ability to capture lightness and humour within moments of despair and defeat when dealing with something bigger than any one person.
In Tom Fool, despite the grim anxiety experienced by his characters due to their working-class status, each search for and dream of freedom and happiness in their lives. It marks itself as one of Kroetz most iconic plays and although written for an audience over forty years ago, Tom Fool resonates all too strongly with the economic stronghold capitalism still has on families of today.
