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North Coast Rep to premiere play on real-life Nuremberg trials drama

It began with a book — author Jack El-Hai’s 2013 “The Nazi and the Psychiatrist: Hermann Göring, Dr. Douglas M. Kelley, and a Fatal Meeting of Minds at the End of WWII.”

The subject was U.S. Army psychiatrist Kelley who in the summer of 1945 was assigned to evaluate the mental fitness o detained Nazi leader HermannGöring, among others who were awaiting war crimes trials and sentencing at the Nuremberg prison in post-World War II Germany.

More than a decade later, El-Hai’s book is being adapted, just about simultaneously, into both a film and a stage play.

The movie adaptation now in production is titled “Nuremberg” and stars Russell Crowe as Göring and Rami Malek as Kelley. El-Hai and director James Vanderbilt are co-writers of the screenplay.

Closer to home, playwright/actor Jake Broder has adapted El-Hai’s book into the play “Sense of Decency.” Its world premiere at North Coast Repertory Theatre in Solana Beach is being co-directed by Broder and David Ellenstein, North Coast Rep’s artistic director.

The production, which opens Saturday night, features Frank Corrado as Göring and Brendan Ford as Kelley. Lucy Davenport completes the cast portraying both Kelley’s wife, Dukie, and Göring’s spouse, Emmy.

Broder calls “Sense of Decency” a “psychological thriller” that is not just a historical piece.

“This is a story that really has a modern resonance,” he said, “because it’s examining the roots of fascism and authoritarianism and about where those things come from in the human psyche. We are in a place in our world where we’re wrestling with those things right in front of our eyes.”

A bit of backstory about this project: Broder says he desired to option El-Hai’s book from the moment he’d finished reading it.

“I was fascinated with the character of Göring,” he recalled, “because he was amoral, not immoral. Kelley looked into the face of evil and found something you didn’t expect, which was untrammeled narcissism.”

To Broder’s disappointment, the rights to El-Hai’s book had already been purchased. But about five years later, around 2020, Broder was talking with Ellenstein, North Coast Rep’s artistic director, about the book. It turned out Ellenstein and El-Hai were longtime friends who’d known each other since seventh grade. Just as fatefully, the rights to the book were again available.

“He put us (himself and El-Hai) in touch,” said Broder. “David really is the genesis of this. He commissioned the script and programmed the play, which was a tremendous expression of faith on his part, both in the story and in the partnership.”

In crafting his script for “Sense of Decency,” Broder was assisted in doing research by El-Hai himself: “He’s been a source of historical context, a good accuracy check. He’s unbelievably thorough.”

Also aiding Broder’s cause was Kelley’s son, Douglas Jr.

The play perhaps more than anything else is a study in two powerful forces, “a sort of King Kong vs. Godzilla in a lot of ways,” said Broder.

“Kelley is sent to keep Göring fit for trial. But he has big ambitions. He thinks he can find out what the ‘disease’ (the evil) is that made this happen. He thinks ‘If I can find out what the ‘virus’ is I can create the vaccine.”

Broder has hopes that the play will be “a roller coaster that the audience can go on. The topic ain’t pretty but that doesn’t matter. I want the audience to have such a good time they won’t realize what a ‘bad time’ they’re having.”

‘Sense of Decency’

When: Preview, 8 p.m. tonight. Opens Saturday and runs through May 12. 7 p.m. Wednesdays and Thursdays; 8 p.m. Fridays; 2 and 8 p.m. Saturdays; 2 and 7 p.m. Sundays

Where: North Coast Repertory Theatre, 987 Lomas Santa Fe Drive, Solana Beach

Tickets: $49-$74

Phone: (858) 481-1055

Online: northcoastrep.org

Coddon is a freelance writer.