To be or not to be

“Although the story takes place in World War II Poland, I think it’s not hard for anyone to see the parallel with the present. But this play is not about war, it’s not about violence, it’s about candor, courage, imagination and intelligence. It’s about being human. It’s a declaration of love for theatre and theatre-makers, from the actors to the stagehands and the stagehands. It’s a show about the power of illusion, about playing with the theatrical convention that binds us on stage to them in the audience; about the magic of theatre. It’s also an open door to the bowels of the theatre, where some seemingly normal people, called actors, gnawed by vanity, exalted by generosity, live. Nick Whitby’s To Be or Not to Be is an adaptation of a famous 1942 film by the great German-Jewish director Ernst Lubitsch, a refugee from the Nazis in Hollywood. It’s a comedy about the humanity within us, about courage, about talent, and about the stakes for the actor when he reveals himself to the audience. At the end, the viewer will hopefully ask himself the same Hamletian question: to be or not to be (human)? That is the question.”– Vlad Massaci