Sein oder Nichtsein

Show & Culture

Hamlet is on the programme at a Polish municipal theatre shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War. In the title role is Josef Tura, the ensemble’s self-proclaimed star. To his dismay, a young officer regularly leaves the auditorium during his “Sein oder Nichtsein” monologue. Tura has no idea that the officer is meeting his wife Maria in her dressing room. During the day, the Polski-Theater rehearses the black comedy “Gestapo”. Afraid of offending Hitler, the government pre-emptively bans the production. Nevertheless, the Germans invade Poland shortly afterwards. Maria’s admirer returns some time later as a representative of the Polish resistance. He asks the ensemble to help him eliminate a professor who intends to betray the underground resistance to the Gestapo. To obtain the traitor’s documents, Tura takes on the true role of his life and transforms himself into a Gestapo officer. In the Polski-Theater, redecorated as Gestapo headquarters and populated by actors playing Nazis, a madcap game begins, quite literally a matter of being or not being, of life and death. Ernst Lubitsch filmed his iconic comedy Sein oder Nichtsein in 1942 while in exile in America, based on a story by Hungarian author Melchior Lengyer. Like the film, this gripping stage adaptation explores the power of theatre and humour in dark times with biting wit, great comedy and profound humanity.