Swiss playwright Max Frisch’s parable on law, order and freedom, which caused riots at its European premiere in 1951, gets its belated English premiere and fails to ignite.
It doesn’t have, in this production by the Cerberus Theatre Company at least, the impact of Frisch’s most famous political dramas, The Fire Raisers and Andorra.
The public prosecutor, investigating a motiveless murder by a bank clerk, identifies with him so much that he decides to become a murderer. He behaves like the fairy- tale killer Count Oederland and goes around chopping people to death with his axe. He then takes command of a rebel army. Will he be executed as a criminal or will he be asked to form a government? Is it a dream? Is it his fantasy? Or is it all for real? Christopher Loscher’s production never really gets to grips with the mordant satire and the cast, most of them, confusingly, playing too many roles, do far too much overacting.