SET in Westerbork transit camp for Dutch Jews in Holland in 1943, Ian Buckley’s The Project tells the story of four cabaret artists and their relationships, both with each other and their nazi camp commandant.

Much of the play’s factually based background relates to how, one day a week, 1,000 inmates were transported by rail to a destination in the east such as Auschwitz or Sobibor. Most feared what lay in store for them.

The cabaret artists stayed longer than the majority  — their usefulness delaying but not putting off the fateful transport day. Their agency was limited and illusory in a world of fear and half-hopes.