The Arsonists

Synopsis

Farce which brought the author international acclaim in 1958. When two suspicious characters insinuate themselves into his house, Gottlieb Biedermann feels unable to turn them out, even as his concerns grow that they are the arsonists who are devastating his community. When they show him their stockpile of petrol, fuses and detonators in his attic, he realises that he really ought to do something...Max Frisch's 1958 play is a modern classic. It is part moral fable, part black farce which examines the relationship between bourgeois complacency and continuing atrocity in modern Europe.

Our Review:

7 November 2007

“It’s not easy these days, lighting a cigarette ... everyone thinks the whole world’s about to go up in flames.”

The first line of Alistair Beaton’s brilliant new translation of The Arsonists by Max Frisch – better known in English as The Fire-Raisers – puts the play in a nutshell. It’s delivered by Will Keen as Gottlieb Biedermann, a highly strung businessman who deals in hair restorers while harbouring the agents of his own destruction.

The arsonists who arrive in his sleek modern house – designed by Anthony Ward as a suburban show-room of glass, white walls, curvilinear furniture and chrome and silver trappings – are as mysterious as Goldberg and McCann in The Birthday Party.

The first, Schmitz (Paul Chahidi), is an ex-wrestler from a deprived background. The second, Eisenring (Benedict Cumberbatch), is a former head waiter with a taste for the high life. They are connecting up oil drums – these float in to fill th...

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Latest User Review

David Baxter - 13 December 2007:

Whilst obviously absurd, The Arsonists feels very relevant with it's rather un-PC message about the dangers of accommodation and appeasement of the threat from within our own society. Even at 95 minutes though the play is too long and repetitive as it labours to hammer home its' single point. I would also have happily turned their hose on the deeply irritating Greek chorus of firefighters. What makes this a 4-star show are the central performances, particularly the wonderful Will Keen, complete with an alarming wig, as Biedermann or Everyman or even Liberty, although it comes as a surprise to find that his camp voice from Kiss of the Spider Woman is actually his own. Finally a plea to Artistic Director Dominic Cooke: if you really want to broaden the appeal of the Royal Court try offering midweek matinees more often - there are none scheduled for the next season, which seriously reduces the opportunities for non-Londoners....

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