Who really is the stranger at your door?

Directed ominously by Bob Scanlan, suspicion takes a front seat as Praxis Stage presents Max Frisch’s British absurdist satire, The Arsonists at Chelsea Theatre Works in Chelsea, Massachusetts through Sunday, September 15.  This semi-interactive production is approximately two hours with one intermission. Click here for more information and for tickets.

‘The naked truth told enough, nobody believes it’ is a variation of Nazi Joseph Goebbels’s Big Lie propaganda technique, ‘Repeat a lie often enough, it becomes the truth.’  The Arsonists build on that here as being blind to the obvious. 

First published by Max Frisch in 1953, The Arsonists has since evolved from a radio play to television and a stage production under other names such as The Fire Raisers or The Firebugs.  It delves into many issues including hypocrisy, fascism and propaganda.

In an unnamed town, place, and setting, The Arsonists is unorthodox right from the start and focuses on Kim H. Carrell as Gottlieb Biedermann who is contrary in many ways.  Relishing in his upper middle class affluence in an expensive ascot in lieu of a tie while smoking cigars, Biedermann just finishes reading about arsonists setting fires in people’s homes in his neighborhood when a towering stranger with bleached blond locks arrives at his door.  Anxious, preoccupied and frustrated Biedermann reluctantly lets him in.

 The stranger is Daniel Boudreau as charismatically chatty and homeless former circus wrestler Joe Schmitz.  Boudreau and Carrell share a gnawing awkwardness as Boudreau’s Schmitz voraciously eats and insists he is looking for a little humanity.  Boudreau delivers another impressive performance as Schmitz not entirely unlike his persuasive character Goldberg in The Birthday Party and he shares a darkly fascinating rapport with Zair Silva as mysterious thrill seeker Will Eisenring. 

The Arsonists reveal some of life’s minor truisms such as when people dismiss behavior over the weather to mask negative emotion and more serious ones such as overlooking any event if it was not reported in the news.  Carrell as Biedermann is fixated on appearances and insists that we are all human beings regardless of status yet disassociates himself with people and is extremely ruthless in other areas of his life.  Along with Julia Trueblood as Biedermann’s equally anxious wife Babette, they wish to appear accommodating even if that is not necessarily the case.

Annunciating Mr. Biedermann’s name for emphasis, Stephanie Charlton is humorous as practical and edgy maid Anna, reflecting much of the exasperation the audience feels at Beidermann’s increasingly bizarre behavior exemplified by an amusing moment amongst an otherwise somber scene between Biedermann and Anna arguing over table settings. 

There is musical accompaniment to The Arsonists by vocalist Miss Mary Mac, Music Director David Krimsky and Malachi Connolly on guitar with percussionist Benedict Dawn-Cross highlighted by a grim cover of R.E.M’s It’s the End of the World as We Know it as part of this cabaret-style show.  Mackenzie Adamick’s sound design is often immersive and lends to some of the show’s tension as a timer sporadically ticks in the background. The most impressive part of Kevin Fulton’s lighting is inside a hidden door that is realistic, convincing and won’t be revealed here. 

Like Praxis Stage’s previous absurdist work for The Birthday Party, The Arsonists may render you speechless, a bit disoriented and frustrated, yet you may also find yourself invested in this production’s motivations and outcome especially in shifty Boudreau as Schmitz and Zair Silva as Eisenring.  Both absurdist works examine the human condition and deliver its share of truisms from an absurdist perspective but unfortunately, The Arsonists leaves little to interpretation as both productions culminate in a dining room table showdown in which the tables turn.

The Greek chorus of firemen, composed of five actors including Alison Butts, Abby Duell, Jean Dany Joachim, Gabriel Pagan and Jessica Newman, appear to pose as a neighborhood watch.  The idea is intriguing, but their welcome wears thin at first chorusing at times what the audience might be thinking before coming off as condescending, repetitive, and unnecessary with the exception of a brief haunting song sung by Jean Dany Joachim right after intermission.

At one point, the show encourages you to think for yourself and yet, the show is not without its subtle biases and political leanings.  It may have been more thought provoking if left ambiguous as the play is already witty and relevant on its own.

Directed ominously by Bob Scanlan, Praxis Stage presents Max Frisch’s The Arsonists continuing at Chelsea Theatre Works in Chelsea, Massachusetts through Sunday, September 15.  This semi-interactive production is approximately two hours with one intermission. Click here for more information and for tickets.