The Chess Player

Based on the novella by Austrian author, Stefan Zweig, THE CHESS PLAYER tells a tale of a journey into and out of madness.

Imprisoned in a solitary confinement by the Nazis, a prisoner slides into insanity until he steals a book of grand chess tournaments. Living through them he holds onto reality. Desperate, he then creates new games dividing himself into two feuding chess masters, stumbling into self-inficted schizophrenia.

As Zweig’s story unfolds, the actor steps out of the action, building a meta-theatre frame around the play. He challanges the audience to examine the power of illusion, proposing that, like the prisoner, we depend on them to allow us to survive.