Yes we all know about the revival of the hit musical Chess currently getting mixed reviews in the West End.
But over in Barnes, a little up-river from Battersea, there’s another top knight out in the offing.
The OSO Arts Centre, a small fringe theatre in SW13, is hosting a touring production called The Chess Player.
The Chess Player is adaptation of Stefan Zweig’s 1941 novella The Royal Game put together for stage by Richard McElvain, the theatre professor at Fitchburg State University.
It is on from May 22nd to 26th at 8pm.
Although slightly out of fashion now, Zweig was one of the most popular writers in the world in the 1920s and 30s.
Here is the blurb for the show which gives a flavour of what the play is about – a man who uses the greatest of his mind in playing chess to cope with the horrors of Nazi imprisonment:
Imprisoned in solitary confinement by Nazis, a stolen book of chess games becomes a prisoner’s only way to cling to sanity. Fighting madness, he chooses schizophrenia, surviving by dividing his mind into two feuding chess masters. After his escape, he dares himself to walk the edge of a volcano of madness as he challenges the greatest chess player in the world to a match.
You can watch a trailer here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=
Tickets are £14/£12 and can be bought at www.osoarts.org.uk or by calling 020 8876 9885.
