Primo, which is based on Levi's memoir If This Is A Man, was adapted for the stage by Sher. Levi was an Italian Jew, internationally famous for his many writings, the first being his 1947 memoir, If This Is A Man published in the United States under the title of Survival in Auschwitz, his account of the time he spent in the Auschwitz concentration camp during the final year of World War II.
The National Theatre of Great Britain production of Primo, directed by Richard Wilson, opened on Broadway to rave reviews on July 12 after much praise abroad. In his Broadway.com Review of the piece, Eric Grode wrote: "Primo has turned one of the 20th century's towering memoirs into a lesson in achieving theatrical greatness through simplicity. Sher is lucky to have the words of Levi, whose empathic voice makes him an accessible, even ingratiating guide to hell. And we are lucky to have them both."