The Show, November 5, 2012

Of his translation of Max Frisch's Biedermann und die Brandstifter, Alistair Beaton wrote in The Guardian in 2007, "We immediately have to ask: what is the great evil we are failing to face up to today? Is it still nuclear weapons? Is it the destruction of our environment through personal greed and corporate plunder? Is it the misery we inflict upon the Third World? Is it the erosion of our liberties in the name of the War on Terror? Is it the violence perpetrated on the people of Iraq? Is it Israel's cruel and illegal occupation of Palestine? Or could it be the threat to liberal values posed by radical Islam? ... if audiences want to engage with the issue of Islamism, this [Royal Court] production certainly allows them to do that. But in the end, the power of The Arsonists lies in the undefined nature of the evil it portrays." 

Morris Panych puts on his director's hat for this fascinating play and, it appears, fascinating translation. Panych helms a first-rate cast which includes Fiona Reid, Sheila McCarthy and Michael Ball. (Canadian Stage)