Brandon Uranowitz (‘Leopoldstadt’) explores Jewish ‘family, identity and memory’ in Tom Stoppard’s sprawling play [Exclusive Video Interview]
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“The play is about family, identity and memory,” reveals Brandon Uranowitz when asked to synthesize the epic scope of Tom Stoppard’s “Leopoldstadt.” Having grown up Jewish within an “assimilated white neighborhood” in New Jersey, the actor was immediately drawn to the discussions surrounding identity, which form the backbone of the script. “It all comes down to that question of ‘who are we?’,” explains the actor. Watch the exclusive video interview above.
Jewish identity, as it relates to the concept of assimilation, is at the core of a heated early argument between his character Ludwig and Herman (David Krumholtz). “It asks questions about Jewish identity that I had not seen or heard until reading this play,” admits Uranowitz. In the year 1899, Jewish people had contributed immensely to Viennese culture to the point that most people’s “Jewishness was neither here nor there.” This is the lifestyle that Herman favors, but Ludwig sees the impending dangers of hate which still lingers in society. ”That prejudice is the seed with deep, deep roots, that can never be rooted out entirely,” notes the actor, explaining Ludwig’s position, ”to assimilate means that we stay who we are, but that prejudice piece goes away.”
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As the play moves on from that moment, a series of small actions telegraph a simmering hatred, which of course ultimately leads to the rise of Nazism. It’s easy to draw parallels to those small, but ignored, actions, to a similar spate of antisemitic vitriol being hurled about today. Uranowitz explains that what makes those moments “so terrifying for us, is that we have a history of ignoring them, and looking past them, and denying their potential.”
The accelerated structure of Tom Stoppard’s script makes it appear to the audience that this death by a million paper cuts occurs suddenly. But in reality, it’s a slow burn across generations. Uranowitz sees this as an important reminder that it’s difficult for people to see how dire a situation is when they are standing in the center of it. Hateful rhetoric is “indicative of a broader, bigger hatred,” he states, “we get into trouble when we think that they can’t lead to something else.”
Generations later, Uranowitz returns to the stage as a new character, Nathan, a holocaust survivor and one of the only family members left. This time, he faces a new argument with Leo, a relative who was not raised Jewish and holds no family history. “Nathan for me represents that long line of Jewish ancestry that is the keeper of those memories,” describes the actor. Nathan and Leo are two of the only people who can keep the names and memories of the past generations alive, lest they be lost to time.
The overwhelming number of lost memories is a powerful piece of the play for Uranowitz, and one that he sees as woven into the very fabric of the storytelling. “We’re talking about a period of time where we lost 6 million people and it’s impossible to remember them all as individuals,” he says. Stoppard’s script then, with a massive cast playing multiple members of the family across several generations, serves as a challenge to the audience. Is it even possible to remember the names and relations of just one single family? If the audience cannot complete this simple challenge, imagine how many other names and rich histories were lost during this time. “You’re watching a family dwindle down,” notes Uranowitz. “It’s about remembering and what it means to be personally proactive to remember your own stories. Because look at how hard it is to remember one family’s story”
Uranowitz is a three-time Tony nominee for his work in “An American in Paris,” “Falsettos” and “Burn This.”
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