Robert Icke's play is an adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler's "Professor Bernhardi” (1912): Ruth Wolff, doctor and acknowledged researcher, is cast aside from the medical profession due to a decision she made to protect a dying underaged pacient. This case triggers an avalanche of aggressive reactions and biased comments, mirroring rules of political correctness and the woke culture in today's polarized world, a world divided in tribes, "us versus the others”, where morality is defined by circumstances. Social networks dictate how we live, as well as racial, sexual, political or gender identities. Whatever you dare not talk about at work fearing you might be cancelled, it is safe to discuss in theatre: we allow ourselves to confront this world's prejudice and lies.
Andrei Șerban (b. 1943 in Bucharest) is a Romanian theatre and opera director, who influenced twentieth-century theater with successful productions worldwide. He graduated from the Institute of Theatre and Film Arts in Bucharest. He made his debut in Romania in 1968 with The Good Person of Szechwan by Bertolt Brecht at Piatra Neamț Youth Theatre. In 1969, Șerban emigrated to the United States fololowing a grant from the Ford Foundation. In 1970 he went to Paris to study at Peter Brook's International Centre for Theatre Research.
He made an impression with Fragments of a Greek Trilogy (Medea, The Trojan Women, Electra), at La MaMa, the experimental theatre club in New York City. His collaborations include projects at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, Opéra Bastille in Paris, the Metropolitan Opera, Covent Garden, Théâtre de la Ville, the Comédie Française, Helsinki's Lilla Teatern, etc. From 1990 to 1993, he was the general manager of the National Theatre Bucharest. He was a professor at the Columbia University School of the Arts for three decades.
