Andorra is a play written by the Swiss dramatist Max Frisch in 1961. The original text came from a prose sketch Frisch had written in his diary titled Der andorranische Jude (The Andorran Jew). The Andorra in Frisch's play is fictional and not intended to be a representation of the real Andorra located between France and Spain. Frisch has stated that the title 'Andorra' had only been intended as a working title but later liked using the term 'Andorrans' so much he kept it.
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The story revolves around a young boy, Andri, who is brought up as the Jewish adoptive son of the town's Teacher, who claims to have rescued him as a child from the neighbouring, anti-semitic "Blacks"[1][2] (implying Blackshirts). However, it is revealed during the first half of the play that the story of Andri's origin is a lie: he is the illegitimate child of the Teacher and the Señora, a lady from the Blacks, and Andri is not a Jew.
When the play starts, Andri is engaged to the Teacher's daughter Barblin, who he has grown up with and who (unbeknownst to him) is his half-sister. While the Teacher tries to ensure they do not marry, Andri becomes the center of anti-semitism first from his fellow town members and later from invading Black forces. When the Teacher finally reveals the truth, the townspeople do not accept it, and permit Andri to be killed. At the end, Andri identifies with the Jews and defiantly welcomes his fate.
Apart from Andri and Barblin, the characters in Andorra are not named, but are instead named after their occupation: the Teacher, the Priest, the Soldier, etc. After seven of the twelve scenes, individual members of the community come forth to a witness box and talk about Andri's death in the past tense, foreshadowing the play's tragic ending. Each townsperson attempts to rationalize their involvement in Andri's death (which they consider in hindsight unwarranted since he wasn't born a Jew). Only the Priest is ashamed of his actions and makes no excuses, aware that he of all people should not have stereotyped Andri, interpreting it as a breach of the second commandment, "Thou shalt not make an image." The Soldier's rationale, "I was only following orders", comes from the period of denazification when many ex-Nazi soldiers were forced to defend their anti-semitism after the fact. The Teacher and Barblin do not come to the witness box: the Teacher commits suicide and Barblin goes mad.
Andorra is an example of epic theatre (as opposed to classical theatre), which was popularised by Bertolt Brecht in the early 20th century. Epic theatre aims to activate the audience into thinking about the important questions and ideas within the play so that he or she can form their own rational opinion for themselves after having been an active, critical observer.
Frisch uses the Verfremdungseffekt (distancing effect) throughout the play, with the aim of distancing the audience from the action so that they can think about the themes of the play rather than getting immersed in the plot. Frisch uses these techniques, as he wanted to create a dramatic situation where a character is mistaken for a Jew when he really wasn't one. All the characters and events are subservient to this central idea.
Their personality is otherwise completely irrelevant to the plot, and it would only divert the audience's attention from what is important if these characters had a personality.
The play—written fifteen years after the end of World War II—is more of a study of cultural prejudice rather than a specific reflection on the war. However, it is more than prejudice: many of the characters have something to gain from Andri's being a Jew: the Teacher has been able to present himself as a Good Samaritan, the Soldier can get Barblin, the Carpenter can make money; even the Priest can demonstrate his Christian sympathy for the outsider. The motif of whitewashing, with which the play starts and ends, points to hypocrisy as a central theme. Another theme are people's pairs of shoes, which represent the roles assigned to people (likely based on the phrase "to put oneself in someone else's shoes", which also exists in German); In the beginning and the end Andri's shoes are left behind at the scene, leading to someone asking not to touch them until he came back.
Andorra was performed on 6th-9th April 2010, at The Samuel Beckett Theatre, Trinity College, Dublin. In a translation by Nicholas Johnson, who also directs, the play is performed by an ensemble from the 2nd year BA Drama and Theatre.