To tamper with nature is doomed to failure…
Gay conversion therapy remains legal in 170 countries around the world – including Britain. Claudio Macor’s Savage is a visceral true account of Danish Doctor Carl Værnet, a Nazi sympathiser who believed he had found the cure for homosexuality.
Copenhagen 1940. With the Nazi occupation of Denmark, life did not change much. Zack and Nikolai enjoy the hedonism of the cabaret, see friends and are happy in love. Nature forms part of a balanced world that presents only the truth, not choices.
Their world is shattered when Doctor Carl Vaernet discovers “a cure” for homosexuality. They are arrested late one night. Zack is released as he has diplomatic immunity, but Nikolai is imprisoned and singled out for experimentation.
What follows is a traumatic and harrowing exposé of a flawed medical concept which ultimately failed but destroyed thousands of lives in the process.
This important play tells a heart-breaking love story, and amidst the brutal and savage true story exposes an obsessed and forgotten Nazi War Criminal. This extraordinary tale, spanning one decade, two continents and a myriad of broken hearts, throws a cold, harsh light on the horrors of conversion therapy – a practice, incredible as it seems, still in existence today…
Director Robert McWhir.
Produced by LAMBCO Productions.
White Bear Theatre, 138 Kennington Park Road, Kennington, London, SE11 4DJ
Wednesday 25 February – Sunday 15 March.
Booking and full details: https://www.citizenticket.com/events/lambco-productions/savage/
