"THE CHESS PLAYER" was most recently performed by the incredibly talented Richard McElvain, from the 18th - 26th of Septemper 2018 in the Theatermuseum.

The Chess Player is based on the novella, “Schachnovelle” by Austrian author Stefan Zweig. It tells the story of a Viennese Jewish lawyer, Dr. B, imprisoned by the Nazis. Because his legal practice was in financial management for Austrian "old money", they are sure he "knows" things they want to find out, so instead of sending him to the death camps, they keep him in solitary confinement to break him down. Gradually descending into madness, he steals a book of famous chess games and staves off insanity by escaping into the games.

Beyond the story of survival, the production has a larger, meta-theatre frame in which Richard explores the idea of how life parallels the action of the play. How, like the doctor in solitary survives by entering an illusion, so do we in our lives reach out to illusions to guide us...like Theatre.

Richard performed the show at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival last year and it received 5* STAR reviews!

…an absolute must see not only for entertainment purposes, but as a necessary piece of theatre.

Broadway Baby *****