The Physicists

Friedrich Dürrenmatt “has the most lively concept of the absurd in his plays, which tend to burst across the stage like firecrackers…[The Physicists is] continually intriguing and entertaining.”-- The New York Times

The Physicists is a provocative and darkly comic satire about life in modern times, by one of Europe’s foremost dramatists and author of the internationally celebrated The Visit. The world’s greatest physicist, Johann Wilhelm Möbius, is in a madhouse, haunted by recurring visions of King Solomon. He is kept company by two other equally deluded scientists: one who thinks he is Einstein, another who believes he is Newton. It soon becomes evident, however, that these three are not as harmlessly lunatic as they appear. Are they, in fact, really mad? Or are they playing some murderous game, with the world as the stake? For Möbius has uncovered the mystery of the universe - and therefore the key to its destruction - and Einstein and Newton are vying for this secret that would enable them to rule the earth. Added to this treacherous combination is the world-renowned psychiatrist in charge, the hunch-backed Mathilde von Zahnd, who has some diabolical plans of her own…

With wry, penetrating humor, The Physicists probes beneath the surface of modern existence and, like Marat/Sade, questions whether it is the mad who are the truly insane.

Friedrich Dürrenmatt was born in Switzerland in 1921 and has long been considered one of the world’s leading German-language playwrights. His plays have received international acclaim, with The Visit, Romulus the Great, and The Physicists having been performed on Broadway and in major capitals throughout the world. The Physicists was first performed in Zurich in 1962. Dürrenmatt died in December 1990.

From the cover notes of the Grove Press edition, 1991