We Merry Dancers’ debut production of Max Frisch’s The Fire Raisers has just completed its run at Hope Mill Theatre. Written in 1953 as a radio play, it’s been brought up to date for the stage with new topical references, but the message is the same: ignoring evil rather than confronting it leads to disaster. Originally a metaphor for Nazism and the rise of fascism, various more recent world events bear the message out. It’s well directed by Amy Gavin.
The play centres on Gottlieb Biedermann (Rupert Hill) a middle-class respectable man, who knowingly allows arsonists to move into his attic, and his wife Babette (Althea Burey) who doesn’t understand why. In a nod to Theatre of the Absurd he plays things like Basil Fawlty, to great effect, whereas she plays the uncomprehending wife straight.
The two arsonists, ex-wrestler and bruiser Jospeh Schmidt (Kyle O’Neill) and the more cunning Wilhelm Eisenring (Michael Clay) are well portrayed and really get under your skin.
Without giving too much away, Gottlieb’s complacency in the face of obvious danger leads to the inevitable and the rest of the play centres on him trying to explain his actions. It’s darkly comic, but the message is still that people who knowingly tolerate obvious danger or wrongdoing share responsibility for the outcome.
A pre-theatre bite and drinks set us ready for what was to follow with Canal St Card savings too.
Paul Schofield for Canal Street Online