Sein oder Nichtsein

Show & Culture

Poland, shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War. At the Polski-Theater, Josef Tura stars in Hamlet, while his wife Maria regularly meets a young officer during the “Sein oder Nichtsein” monologue. After the German invasion, Maria’s lover returns as a member of the Polish resistance and asks the company to help eliminate a professor planning to betray the Resistance to the Gestapo. Tura impersonates a German officer, and the theatre is turned into Gestapo headquarters. This stage adaptation by Nick Whitby, inspired by Ernst Lubitsch’s 1942 comedy, explores with dark humour and humanity the power of theatre in dark times. Directed by Frank Hoffmann, it opens the renovated TNL Atelier.