Biedermann und die Brandstifter

Josefstädter Strasse 26

1080 Wien

 

A lesson without a lesson

He who shuns transformations more than calamity, what can he do against calamity?

Gottlieb Biedermann, archetype of the well-off and complacent citizen, is disturbed by the arsons reported in the newspapers. Nevertheless, he lets two strangers into his house, even though they indicate from the beginning that they want to set it on fire. While Biedermann "ingratiates" himself in the truest sense of the word - entertains the two, feigns understanding towards them and tries to show solidarity with them - they blatantly put one barrel of gasoline after the other into the attic.

Along with Andorra, Biedermann and the Arsonists is one of the most famous plays by the Swiss writer Max Frisch. Frisch conceived the “Educational Play without Teaching,” which premiered at the Schauspielhaus Zurich in 1958, as a sharp political parable about bourgeois fears and doomed strategies to show solidarity with totalitarianism in order to protect one's own existence.

Stephanie Mohr, celebrated for her production of the bitterly evil comedy Der Himbeerpflücker, will, among other things, present the work of the great Swiss writer, which has lost none of its relevance in view of current threats, with Johannes Krisch on the stage of the Theater in der Josefstadt.

 

(Source: josefstadt.org)