Maybe a potboiler speech proclaiming her moral rectitude would be less realistic, but it would be infinitely more satisfying. I do recommend the play, if you have a chance to see it, for the ideas it provokes and the questions it raises. Particularly if the production stars Ruby Dee . She makes of her character something of a hero through sheer obstinacy of will. If only Grandma were allowed to stay on subject and speak from the heart.
History is also a distraction in ' The Gardens of Frau Hess '.
No longer will French and English plants be grown alongside their indigenous German 'betters'. She must have the garden torn apart, the non-German plants uprooted, and the 'inferior' hybrid species destroyed. Unable to find a proper gardener for the task, she drafts help from the concentration camps. We experience breathless anticipation of the inevitable conflict, but then we grow resentful when the conflict never crystallizes. The two seldom seem to be 'in the moment' with each other.