Mr. Biedermann and the Arsonists

The city is plagued by fires. The homes of respectable middle-class citizens turn to ash without warning. Businessman Mr. Biedermann can no longer even light a cigar because of it. What kind of world is this?! The fires don't concern him. He wants peace. Then the doorbell rings and a stranger stands at his door asking for shelter. Biedermann lets him in, not out of compassion, but out of duty. He must behave like a proper citizen. Soon others arrive. Unknown guests in the house set off a cycle of grotesque situations.

Who are these potential arsonists and what are their mysterious attitudes that will turn Mr. Biedermann's life upside down? Should he sympathize with this unknown force and believe in progressive change at any cost? Or should he preserve the status quo and risk being labeled a conservative? How does one cope with an ambiguous situation? Who can you trust? One side must be right. But what if...?

Swiss dramatist and prose writer Max Frisch wrote the play Mr. Biedermann and the Arsonists under the influence of his experiences with the communist coup in Czechoslovakia, which he witnessed firsthand during repeated visits to Prague in 1948. However, this is not a one-time play, but a grotesque, timeless satire criticizing bourgeois philistinism. Through this rarely staged work, everyone will once again ask themselves how to confront something foreign and something they cannot or even refuse to understand. Where today lies the boundary between solidarity and conformism? In the title role of Mr. Biedermann, long-time member of the HaDivadlo ensemble Jiří Miroslav Valůšek will perform.