KITTEL: Doktor Faustus of the Third Reich is a two-act historical drama that interrogates the life of Gerhard Kittel, a renowned German Lutheran theologian and expert on Jewish studies who became a committed supporter of Nazism. Written by Charlotte Pickering, directed by Jed Birch and produced by Heirs of Banquo Productions, the play premiered tonight at Liverpool’s Unity Theatre. Guests of honour included the Lord Mayor of Liverpool, Barbara Murray, and Ian Byrne MP.
A re-imagining of the Faust legend, the play casts Kittel as a man who willingly “sells his soul” for power and influence within the Nazi regime, transforming from respected academic into a supplier of antisemitic pseudo-science.
The narrative tracks Kittel (John Henry) from his World War I experiences, where he first encounters the demonic Herr Herold (Kyle Brooks), to his fateful decision in 1933 to join the Nazi Party and publish the notorious pamphlet Die Judenfrage (The Jewish Question). In it, he floated extermination as a solution to Germany’s so-called Jewish problem. This was not scholarship reflecting the Third Reich; it was scholarship underwriting it, lending murderous ideology the authority of academia.
Kittel’s post-1945 imprisonment forms another strand of the drama, forcing him to confront both the consequences of his actions and the reality of the Holocaust. Herr Herold reappears here as an embodiment of guilt that cannot be dismissed or denied.
The play opens in 1977 with Leonore Siegele-Wenschkewitz (Georgia Laity) pleading with her professor for permission to write her thesis on Kittel. She is met with patronising resistance, but her proposal is ultimately approved. As the story unfolds, the parallels between her ambition and Kittel’s earlier career become clear.
One sought legitimacy within a male-dominated academic world whilst the other craved power and influence in the Nazi regeme. But where Kittel’s name collapsed into infamy, Wenschkewitz’s work has since been rightly venerated. This is not grand, decorative theatre. Instead, it is a stark black-box production that embraces minimalism, relying on performance, lighting and meticulously detailed costumes to establish period and mood. The focus is squarely on the actors, and the effect is intensified by the chilling presence of Nazi paraphernalia.
The story unfolds through a sequence of sharp, episodic scenes that move fluidly across time and place, from Kittel’s childhood home to the University of Tübingen, his family life and, ultimately, the spectacle of the Nuremberg Rally. Occasional projections against the black backdrop provide context without distraction.
John X Henry’s score underpins the action with a relentless sense of unease, maintaining tension throughout and rarely allowing the audience to relax.
In the end, KITTEL: Doktor Faustus of the Third Reich is a clear and unsettling warning. It shows how extremism and antisemitism can be nurtured, legitimised and normalised when left unchallenged, and reminds us that such ideas do not die; they lie dormant, waiting for the conditions to return.
The play is on a two night run that has sold out. Details of the Unity Theatre can be found here, https://www.unitytheatreliverpool.co.uk/
Reviewer – Adrian Cork
On – 23.01.2026
