Saw Man in the Glass Booth eons ago, on Hershey, PA, public TV. I'd heard of it, knew Robert (Quint in Jaws) Shaw had something to do with it.
But according to imdb, Shaw gets no credit here. Booth is a metaphorical rendering of the Trial of Adolf Eichmann, most-wanted Nazi war criminal. Point of play I think was to dramatize Hannah Arendt's notion of the "banality of evil." Schell is the wacked-out war crimes defendant who seems more than eager to resume his ghastly activity from the dock; he is utterly at a loss to understand why you shouldn't be able to wipe out entire races of people. Lois Nettleton's his appointed attorney, who may be seduced by Schell's grotesque charms.
I'd reckon this play's a bit dated now, & even the 2002 war crimes tribunal in the Hague provides no real I.D. After all, getting there, as they say, is half the fun, & well before Eichmann went on trial, Israel had apologized to the world community & promised never to sneak into another country & kidnap one of its citizens.
But according to imdb, Shaw gets no credit here. Booth is a metaphorical rendering of the Trial of Adolf Eichmann, most-wanted Nazi war criminal. Point of play I think was to dramatize Hannah Arendt's notion of the "banality of evil." Schell is the wacked-out war crimes defendant who seems more than eager to resume his ghastly activity from the dock; he is utterly at a loss to understand why you shouldn't be able to wipe out entire races of people. Lois Nettleton's his appointed attorney, who may be seduced by Schell's grotesque charms.
I'd reckon this play's a bit dated now, & even the 2002 war crimes tribunal in the Hague provides no real I.D. After all, getting there, as they say, is half the fun, & well before Eichmann went on trial, Israel had apologized to the world community & promised never to sneak into another country & kidnap one of its citizens.