Collaboration

A gripping drama by Ronald Harwood, from the Oscar-winning writer of The Pianist and The Dresser.Germany, 1931.

The world's most celebrated composer, Richard Strauss, meets the brilliant Austrian writer Stefan Zweig, and together they begin work on a glorious new opera.

It is a partnership made in heaven: two great artists at the height of their powers, sparking off one another with wit, warmth and soaring ambition.But Zweig is Jewish, and the Nazis are on the march.

As the regime tightens its grip on every stage and concert hall, Strauss is forced into an impossible bargain, one that could protect his family or betray his dearest friend.

How far would you go to keep creating the thing you love? And where, exactly, does survival end and collaboration begin?By turns funny, tender and devastating, Collaboration is a true story about art, friendship and conscience in the darkest of times, and the quiet compromises ordinary people make simply to carry on.Collaboration show page