Die Physiker von Friedrich Dürrenmatt

The Physicists
by Friedrich Dürrenmatt

A murder has taken place for the second time in three months at the villa of the private sanatorium “Les Cerisiers,” a mental institution. One of the three patients—all of whom are physicists—has strangled a nurse. In the institute’s parlor, police officers are in the process of securing evidence. The body still lies on the hardwood floor, and the signs of a struggle are all too clear: furniture in disarray, overturned armchairs, a table lying on the floor, and a knocked-over floor lamp. The two crimes are all the more disturbing given that the three scientists actually seem harmless and easy to deal with…

The comedy *The Physicists* by Swiss author Friedrich Dürrenmatt was written in 1961, against the backdrop of the Cold War and the construction of the Berlin Wall. A year later, during the Cuban Missile Crisis, the play premiered in Zurich. The setting is a psychiatric clinic in the present day of the play’s time. The events and dialogues that take place there—involving the three physicists (Möbius, Newton, Einstein) and their doctor, Mathilde von Zahnd—symbolize the tense international situation at the beginning of the 1960s as well as the influence of science on global conflicts. The central question is the role and responsibility of science in ensuring the survival of human civilization.

*The Physicists* marked the first premiere of the newly founded, professional ensemble of Szene 10.

Zahnd – Aless Wiesemann
Möbius – Raphael Batzik
Newton – Sebastian Hartmann
Einstein – Thilo Matschke
Inspector – Thos Renneberg

Concept/Dramaturgy – Raphael Batzik
Directed by – Aless Wiesemann / Thos Renneberg
Photos: Javad Javadzade

Performance Rights: Felix Bloch Heirs
Running time: Approx. 80 minutes

20€/15€
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