The year is 1943. Bulgaria has saved most of its Jewish population (50,000 people) from deportation to concentration camps. A reluctant monarch, the self-effacing King Boris III stands up to Hitler, even though Bulgaria’s government has buckled under Germany. As Mark Fisher wrote in The Guardian, Sasha Wilson and Joseph Cullen’s 2020 play confronts “those awkward questions about appeasement and compromise, and the slippery line between honourable neutrality and collaboration.” Celebrated at Edinburgh Fringe and then transferred to the Arcola Theatre, in London, the show has received numerous awards. Now premiering in New York City, the small-budget production from Out Of The Forest Theatre has survived partly due to help from King Boris’s grandson, Prince Kyril, who saw the play and loved it. “My grandfather King Boris was a key part of this story,” the prince has said, “and although he didn’t live to see the end of the war, his objective to prevent the deportation was ultimately achieved.” Hannah Hauer-King directs. —Jeanne Malle