Sein oder Nichtsein

In the summer of 2024, the theatre group ‘die Kleinbürger’ performed the play ‘Sein oder Nichtsein’ by Ernst Lubitsch, directed by Federico Messina. In this production, I was responsible for the design and realisation of the stage set.

The comedy is set during the Second World War and is about a Warsaw theatre group whose anti-fascist play ‘Gestapo’ is banned so as not to irritate its German neighbours, who are ready for war. Leading actor Joseph Tura preferred to play Hamlet anyway. Being recognised as a ‘great actor’ is almost more important to him than the love of his wife, the celebrated - and not very faithful - stage diva Maria Tura. But with the outbreak of the Second World War, the life of the theatre company changes. During the war, the game continues, this time to the death: in order to eliminate a dangerous spy and protect the Polish resistance, the ensemble stages a game of mistaken identity. They slip into the roles and costumes of high-ranking National Socialists and transform their theatre into a Gestapo headquarters.

​