Mr. Biedermann and the Arsonists

The city is plagued by fires. The homes of respectable middle-class citizens are suddenly turning to ash. For businessman Mr. Biedermann, it’s gotten so bad he can’t even light a cigarette anymore. Oh, what kind of world is this?! Still, the fires don’t really concern him—he just wants peace and quiet.

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Then the doorbell rings. A stranger stands outside, asking for shelter. Biedermann lets him in—not out of compassion, but out of duty. One must behave like a proper citizen, after all. Soon, more guests arrive. The unknown visitors set off a chain of grotesque situations within the household. 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 sliding into conservatism? How does one navigate such an ambiguous situation? Whom can we trust? One side must surely be the right one—but what if…?

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Swiss playwright and novelist Max Frisch wrote Mr. Biedermann and the Arsonists under the impression of the communist coup in Czechoslovakia, which he witnessed firsthand during repeated visits to Prague in 1948. Yet this is no one-time political piece, but a grotesque, timeless satire criticizing bourgeois complacency. Through this rarely staged work, we once again ask: how do we confront what feels foreign—what we cannot, or perhaps do not want to, understand? Where today lies the line between solidarity and conformity?

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The title role of Mr. Biedermann will be performed by long-time HaDivadlo ensemble member Jiří Miroslav Valůšek.

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