THEATER | "Is Life Worth Living?" 

Shakespeare posed the ultimate question of all theater — indeed, of all literature and life itself — when he had Hamlet ponder, "To be or not to be?" But Irish playwright Lennox Robinson came close with the decidedly less eloquent "Is Life Worth Living?," the title of his classic 1933 play, which will be revived by the RCP Irish Players starting on Friday, March 15, at the MuCCC (142 Atlantic Ave.). But don't worry: Robinson's play isn't exactly heavy lifting. This comic farce, directed by Jean Gordon Ryon, is set on a small seaside town in Ireland, where the locals decide to forego their annual circus celebration in favor of attempts at serious theater. But once these typically chipper Irishmen and women must contemplate the gloomy works of Strindberg, Tolstoy, and Chekhov, it's enough to make them question, for the first time, whether life really does have a purpose.

"Is Life Worth Living?" continues through March 30 with evening performances, and one matinee performance at 2 p.m. on Sunday, March 17. Tickets are $19 general admission, $14 for seniors over 65, and $9 for anyone under 25. For tickets, full performance schedule, and other events, visit muccc.org.