The Fire Raisers (play)

The Arsonists (German: Biedermann und die Brandstifter), previously also known in English as The Firebugs or The Fire Raisers (only UK English), was written by Max Frisch in 1953, first as a radio play, then adapted for television and the stage (1958) as a play in six scenes.^[1] It was revised in 1960 to include an epilogue.^[2]

Plot

This dark comedy is set in a town that is regularly attacked by arsonists. Disguised as door-to-door salesmen (hawkers), they talk their way into people's homes and settle down in the attic, where they set about planning the destruction of the house. The first sketch was written in 1948 in response to the Communist takeover in Prague, but the play is often seen as a metaphor for Nazism and fascism, and Frisch encourages this through several allusions. The play shows how "normal" citizens can be taken in by evil.^[3][4] As a parable, in a more general sense it may be considered to be descriptive of the gullible and easily manipulated aspects of the German Biedermann - the Everyman - who yearns both for a sense of shallow propriety as well as for a deeper sense of belonging, even if it comes at a great price, including that which is sensible or even necessary for his own survival. In that sense, the play shares much with absurdist plays written at about the same time, such as Eugene Ionesco's 'Rhinoceros'.

The central character, a businessman called Biedermann, is seen at the outset reading newspaper reports of arson, convinced that he could never be taken in. Within minutes, the first "hawker" has appeared (Schmitz), and through a combination of intimidation and persuasion he talks his way into spending the night in the attic. As the play unfolds, a second arsonist appears (Eisenring), and before Biedermann can do anything to stop it, his attic is piled high with oil drums full of petrol. He even helps them to measure the detonating fuse and gives them matches, refusing to believe the full horror of what is happening. He soon becomes an accomplice in his own downfall.

The action is observed by a Greek-style chorus of "firemen", and the increasingly surreal flavour culminates in a final scene, the afterpiece, where Biedermann and his wife Babette find themselves at the gates of Hell. Here they once again meet Schmitz and Eisenring who turn out to be Beelzebub and the Devil respectively, who, after becoming angered at the number of mass murderers being allowed to go to Heaven, refuses to conduct a Hell for a "small fry" like Biedermann.^[2]

The name Biedermann is itself a play on the German word "bieder" meaning conventional, conservative, worthy, honest, upright and is frequently used in a pejorative or ironic context. Thus the name equates to der biedere Mann or the worthy man.

Production history

Mordecai Gorelik, research professor of theater at Southern Illinois University, wrote the authorized English translation and directed it to positive reviews in 1964 while a Visiting Professor at California State University, Los Angeles, and again June 1–5, 1965 at SIU. The inmates of San Quentin Prison staged The Firebugs in June, 1965.^[5] The first United States performance that included the epilogue was directed by Edwin Duerr on May 16, 1968, at California State College, Fullerton^[2]

A new translation of the play by Alistair Beaton entitled The Arsonists, featuring Benedict Cumberbatch, was produced at London's Royal Court Theatre in November 2007, under the direction of Ramin Gray. This was the first major revival of the play in the United Kingdom since its premiere on 1961, also at the Royal Court. It was also performed in 1968 at the Old Vic in Bristol with Tim Pigott-Smith as one of the Fireraisers.

The play has been refashioned as an opera libretto by Šimon Voseček (premiered 2013 Neue Oper Wien in Vienna). The English translation Biedermann and the Arsonists by David Pountney will be performed at the Independent Opera at Sadler's Wells (director: Max Hoehn, conductor: Tim Redmond).^[6]

Notes