But Trueman is no fool. He can spot an arsonist from a mile away. These two strangers with troubled pasts who turn up on his doorstep asking for a spare room can’t be arsonists. They’re too polite. Like him. Everybody is far too respectable to act on their suspicions. Even when they fill his attic with barrels of petrol and ask him to help measure the fuse.
In a new version by Simon Stephens, with songs by Chris Thorpe, Max Frisch’s Trueman and the Arsonists explores how moral lethargy can invite evil in – even encouraging you to give it a warm blanket and a nice dinner.
This is an amoral morality play. It’s also got songs in it.
POST-SHOW TALKBACKS • Tuesday 7th November, Working-Class Representation in the Arts with Dr Dave O’Brien (Professor of Cultural and Creative Studies at University of Manchester, leading expert on socioeconomic diversity in the arts) and Jessica Murrain (performance-maker, actor, film-maker, poet)