The Theatre on the Square was filled to capacity on the evening of January 29, bringing together hundreds of theatre lovers for the Nobody Told Me opening night. Every seat was taken with additional chairs placed along the walkways to accommodate the demand.
Written by Luc Albinski during the Covid-19 pandemic and directed by Ilina Perianova, Albinski said the show was inspired by the story of his grandmother, a Jewish doctor, and her decision to stay in the ghetto and go to her death with her patients.
The show takes the audience into the world of Dr Halina Rotstein, a Jewish doctor at the Warsaw Ghetto’s Czyste Hospital, and the childhood memories of her daughter, Wanda. Told through the eyes of Wanda, and her grandson, Albinski, the play moves between present-day conversation and the world of 1930s to 1940s Warsaw, where a circle of young doctors, known as Halina’s Talmidim, navigate love, idealism, shattered loyalties, and impossible choices.
“I had studied economics, finance, and politics,” Albinski said of his roundabout route to writing the play. “I hadn’t studied drama or literature, so it took me many, many versions of the play. I think I went to about 85 or 86 versions and I had lots of good advice along the way.
Seeing a full house on opening night was very surprising for the writer. “I was very nervous, when I decided to bring the show to Theatre on the Square. My friends and I prayed for at least 50 [tickets to be sold], but to know that virtually every single show has been sold out all the way through to February 7 is pretty amazing.”