{"id":370339,"date":"2025-07-14T19:54:54","date_gmt":"2025-07-14T23:54:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/?p=370339"},"modified":"2025-07-14T19:54:54","modified_gmt":"2025-07-14T23:54:54","slug":"2025-district-fringe-review-the-h-twins-by-hope-campbell-gundlah-4-stars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dctheaterarts.org\/2025\/07\/14\/2025-district-fringe-review-the-h-twins-by-hope-campbell-gundlah-4-stars\/","title":{"rendered":"2025 District Fringe Review: ‘The H Twins’ by Hope Campbell Gundlah (4 stars)"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"G<\/span>rowing up as a triplet, I felt like I didn\u2019t own my identity. Everyone would compare and contrast my body and personality against my siblings \u2014 I existed against <\/em>them, despite wanting to be<\/em> like them. This is the same confusing coming-of-age faced by the sister protagonists of The H Twins<\/em>, Hope Campbell Gundlah\u2019s harrowing new play now at DC\u2019s District Fringe Festival. But unlike me, the sisters are trapped in 1940s Germany, with horrors imminent and unescapable.<\/p>\n

The show starts in an abstract space, before historical details give context. Hilda and Helga (portrayed by the playwright and her real-life twin sister Tess Cameron Gundlah, respectively) enjoy their highly routine lives. Uncle M (John Elmendorf) gives them both psychological evaluations and treats, instilling in them that they\u2019re \u201cbiologically valuable children.\u201d Two nurses (Lisette Gabrielle and Rebecca Husk) secretly provide the sisters access to American media, inadvertently inspiring them to become vaudeville stars. But the patronage of adult characters is confining, and references to \u201cAryan\u201d values abound. As the sisters reach adolescence, the pressure to perform to perfection soon becomes crushing.<\/p>\n

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Courtesy of ‘The H Twins’<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The H Twins <\/em>is structured on a cruel dramatic irony: we know they\u2019re imprisoned in Nazi Germany, even though the sisters don\u2019t. Hope Campbell Gundlah based this play on Dr. Josef Mengele\u2019s terrifying experiments on twin siblings<\/a>, along with Lebensborn homes<\/a> that attempted to raise children with idealized \u201cAryan\u201d bodies and values.<\/p>\n

The combination of two related-but-different histories makes the show feel more speculative than real (the show\u2019s marketing explicitly asks \u201cWhat if?\u201d<\/a>). But if the premise strains credulity, The H Twins <\/em>succeeds mostly because of the committed performances of its two leads. Hope\u2019s Hilda obsesses over rules, while Tess\u2019 Helga becomes disillusioned \u2014 and both actresses convincingly trace a stunted but intense maturation in a short time frame. The other actors mostly perform in silhouette behind a sheet. This makes sense dramaturgically (the theatrical space feels cold and isolated), but as an audience member I grew frustrated that I couldn\u2019t watch their great performances or see their reactions.<\/p>\n

When an artist dramatizes the Holocaust, they face an ethical dilemma: how do you stage a historical genocide without turning it into a generic allegory? The Holocaust resonates with current-day atrocities, but in storytelling, it can often feel like a legend and not a historically specific event. This is the danger with The H Twins<\/em>, and with so<\/a> many<\/a> recent<\/a> narratives<\/a> following young Nazi children: the journey from sheltered German childhood to socially-conscious awakening might just be a blunt metaphor for growing up.<\/p>\n

As a playwright and performer, Hope Campbell Gundlah mostly avoids this trap by grounding the show\u2019s revelations in specific but often unknown histories. Still, the greatest insight The H Twins <\/em>provides isn\u2019t into Nazi Germany, but into the overwhelming emotional lives of twins. Hilda and Helga see themselves in each other, but it\u2019s a gross kind of mirror: each reflection is an ideal the other can never achieve. That\u2019s a horror story that doesn\u2019t need to be set against the backdrop of real-life horrors to feel startling. Yet if you\u2019re able to suspend your disbelief on the show\u2019s strained set-up, The H Twins <\/em>still lands with potent drama.<\/p>\n

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The H Twins<\/strong><\/em>
\nA dark comedy by Hope Campbell Gundlah<\/strong><\/p>\n

Running Time: 90 minutes<\/strong>
\nDates and Times:<\/strong><\/p>\n