Professor Bernhardi was likewise preoccupied with a maverick figure taken to court for preventing a priest from giving a dying girl her last rites. Eventually Bernhardi (Christopher Godwin) is cleared, but his colleague Ebenwald (Dale Rapley) doubts whether it has been worth all the effort. In the tight self-enclosed world of early twentieth century
Vienna, the Jew is perpetually regarded with suspicion: whatever they do can be misinterpreted as a challenge to the prevailing Catholic orthodoxy. Arthur Schnitzler’s play – adapted by Samuel Adamson – revealed an overt racism in Austrian society, which had a significant influence on leaders like Hitler.
