Agent Madeleine: A satisfying resistance
Photo of Puja Uppal as Noor Inayat Khan, Agent Madeleine, by Alex Henkelman.
Recruited by an understaffed and overworked British intelligence agency, led by Leo Marks, played by Nicholas Amott, Noor Inayat Khan, code name Madeleine, played by Puja Uppal, is parachuted into France. Her mission: spy on German troops and communicate her findings by coded radio transmission back to Britain. With scant backup from British Intelligence, and despite Marks’ obvious interest in his agent’s welfare, Madeleine is soon caught and thrown into a Gestapo detention centre. After interrogation her fate is even worse.
There is a great deal of fascinating history packed into this ambitious and well-researched play and playwright/director Chelsea MacKay makes the most of it. Leo Marks’ struggle to bring credibility to his fledgling intelligence operation is highlighted by a phone conversation in which he pleads for more agents. Against a persistent distain for the ungentlemanly tactics of spying and dirty tricks, he crisply informs us that ‘they save the nice buildings for MI6”. Playwright MacKay has gifted Marks with more than one off-the-cuff remark, and Amott delivers each with just the right touch of ironic dryness.
But who is this woman Leo Marks has recruited into the ranks of spies, what young woman would be willing to risk her life to be dropped in the ‘night fog’ of occupied France. Well, a young woman who regardless of country of origin or religion wants to live in a free world. And if Britain, where she now makes her home, is fighting for that cause, then she’s on board, body and soul. Unfortunately, her body is the price she will indeed pay, but her soul will remain beyond her tormentors reach.
Though scenes are chopped up more than is necessary, MacKay’s script is peppered with smart dialogue. After her initial capture, in a ploy to escape, Noor demands a bath, to which Amott’s Ernst Vogt responds: “What part of prisoner of war do you not understand?” It’s moments like this that capture not only the best of MayKay’s writing, but illuminate for us the spirited struggle of the French resistance during this dark time. Such moments also serve as counterpoint for a play that too often telegraphs its seriousness by scenes that proceed at a slow pace and simply take too long to set up. One gets a little lost in the timeline.
However, everyone in the cast commands attention as they create a web of sympathizers and adversaries around Puja Uppal’s Madeleine – played with an intense measure of patriotic fervor and fear driven restraint. Madeleine didn’t see herself as a heroine, and Uppal’s portrayal makes it perfectly clear why; she was simply doing what must be done. As Uppal faces the audience, clearly at risk and even more clearly afraid, one sees oneself restrained in that same chair. Given the chance to choose between assisting the Nazis by tossing up a few names, names of people who will of course end up dead, and time in a Gestapo run hotel what would we do? And collaborators were not in short supply in France during the Nazi occupation, as Jessie Doucet’s interrogator slyly informs Madeleine, “how do you think you got here”. Doucet brings colourful character distinction to all the parts she plays.
If Madeleine has any doubts regarding what awaits her, the cell next door is a constant reminder. Enduring intermittent beatings on the road to execution is young Marcel De Faye, played by Jesse Nasmith. As we learn his fate, MacKay underscores one truth about any war, old men make them; the young do the fighting and dying.
There are moments in the play when MacKay as director might have served her own script more deservedly. We amble along at a suitably dignified but not particularly dramatic pace. And Uppal, so interesting to watch and clearly possessed of the ability to engage the audience directly while being in the moment is curiously facing up stage and away from most of the audience during her initial job interview with Marks – if that is the correct term for an occupation that too often ended in death or disappearance. A little cheating of both actors’ positions so that they face the audience is allowed.
Agent Madeleine is a fascinating and timely reflection on a war and a period of history that still shapes our world, and her personal biography is a gem of discovery. Amid the frantic pace and ruckus calling cards of so many Fringe shows, this does seem to be the year when artists are also telling important stories and contemplating their place in the larger firmament. So, join the budding audience for Agent Madeleine; it may prove one of your more memorable Fringe experiences.
Agent Madeleine
Rainy Heart Productions
Written & Directed by Chelsea MacKay
Cast:
Puja Uppal – Noor Inayat Khan (Madeleine)
Nicholas Amott – Leo Marks & Ernst Vogt
Jesse Nasmith – Marcel De Faye
Jessie Doucet – Hans Josef Kieffer & Ensemble
Stage Manager, Terry Thompson and Assistant Director, Astrid Hieblinger-Rempel
Playing at La Nouvelle Scène – Studio B.
Photo of Puja Uppal as Noor Inayat Khan, Agent Madeleine, by Alex Henkelman.