HaDivadlo:
Mr. Biedermann and the Arsonists

The town is plagued by fires. The homes of respectable middle-class citizens are suddenly reduced to ashes. Because of this, Mr. Biedermann, a shopkeeper, can’t even light a cigarette anymore. Oh, what kind of world is this today?! He couldn’t care less about some fires. He just wants some peace and quiet. 

Just then, the doorbell rings, and an unknown person stands at the door asking for shelter. Biedermann lets him in, not out of compassion, but out of a sense of duty. He must behave like a good citizen. Soon, others arrive. The unknown guests in the house set off a chain of grotesque situations. Who is this group of potential arsonists, and what are their mysterious motives that 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 rather maintain the status quo and risk being labeled a conservative? How to deal with an ambiguous situation? Who to trust? One side must surely be the right one. But what if…?

Swiss playwright and novelist Max Frisch wrote the play *Mr. Biedermann and the Arsonists* under the influence of his experiences of the communist coup in Czechoslovakia, which he witnessed firsthand during his repeated visits to Prague in 1948. However, the play was not intended as a one-off piece, but rather as a grotesque, timeless satire criticizing bourgeois philistinism. Through this title, which is rarely staged in our country, we will once again ask ourselves how to confront something that is foreign to us and that we are unable or even unwilling to understand. Where does the line between solidarity and conformism lie today? 

Jiří Miroslav Valůšek, a long-time member of the HaDivadlo acting ensemble, will star in the title role of Mr. Biedermann.