THE ARSONISTS. To 15 December.
London
THE ARSONISTS
by Max Frisch. New translation by Alistair Beaton.
Royal Court (Jerwood Theatre Downstairs) In rep to 15 December 2007.
Mon-Sat 7.30pm Mat Sat 2.30pm.
BSL Signed 26 Nov.
Runs 1hr 30min No interval.
TICKETS: 020 7565 5000.
www.royalcourttheatre.com
Review: Timothy Ramsden 19 November.
Old flames relit with style.
Though it’s been staged quite often, Max Frisch’s 1953 play began as a radio drama, an origin it’s not hard to detect. Moves between living-room and attic, sounds of fire-engines and explosions, the contrast between implied threats and weakened blustering, would all thrive in an aural dimension.
The petrol barrels the arsonists introduce to Gottlieb Biedermann’s attic could be sinister as sounds, as they are appallingly comic to view. But it’s only the Firefighter-chorus who keep lumpenly intervening which would definitely be better heard and not seen.
Usually translated as The Fire Raisers - Alistair Beaton’s title is aptly punchier – the play was called Biedermann und die Brandstifter. It’s important the homeowner is in the title. As Beaton suggests late on, he is an Everyman (or every middle-class European) figure, contrasting the smiling yet insistent arsonist invaders.
Will Keen’s unctuously placatory performance offers him no sympathy. Especially considering his ruthlessness towards others and the useless hair-restorer he manufactures, which has presumably helped build the sleek glass-and-minimalist elegance of Anthony Ward’s set. Biedermann is coldly ruthless in his life, until the heat’s turned on him. His bright-smiling, shopaholic wife is little better.
What becomes less prominent is the post-Nazi analysis that the weakness and timidity of the ordinary man, with an ostrich-like approach to others, allows tyranny to grow. The arsonists Frisch knew, who had set Europe alight, insinuated themselves forcefully within societies around his native Switzerland. It was what Ibsen’s An Enemy of the People calls the ‘compact majority’ who had smoothed their way.
Keen provides a repertoire of exaggerated sound and moves showing stylised awkwardness disguising itself as confidence. Zawe Ashton’s maid contrasts him in her economic, honest directness. But the production’s centre lies in the interplay of the arsonists, Paul Chahidi’s ex-wrestler contrasting Benedict Cumberbatch’s suave waiter.
Chahidi’s Schmitz is ace at smilingly inserting himself into the household, seeming friendly while never revealing himself. And Cumberbatch gives Eisenring a commanding suavity that enlists Biedermann in preparations for his destruction, using the householder’s own polite evasions to catch him out. Aptly, it’s this pairing that sets the stage alight.
Anna: Zawe Ashton.
Chorus: Michael Begley/David Hinton/Claire Prempeh..
Schmitz: Paul Chahidi.
Eisenring: Benedict Cumberbatch.
Babette: Jacqueline Defferary.
Biedermann: Will Keen.
Chorus/Doctor of Philosophy: Munir Khairdin.
Chorus/Widow Knechtling: Alwyne Taylor.
Chorus Leader: Graham Turner.
Director: Ramin Gray.
Designer: Anthony Ward.
Lighting: Johanna town.
Sound: Christopher Shutt.
Choreographer: Hofesh Shechter.
Assistant director: Katharina Wienecke.
2007-11-20 06:31:38