‘Firebugs’ spark some questions

The dark comedy from the ’50s pits manipulative arsonists against a naîve man with a big heart

By Kristen Salamon

If you aren’t looking for the National Pastime Theatre, you won’t find it.

The tiny, neon sign in the window blends in with the other neon signs on Broadway Street in Uptown. Take one step in the front door and you still might think you are in the wrong place. I did.

You won’t see anything that looks like a theatre until you walk through the front room, stepping past broken pieces of wood, and into the back. Here you’ll finally see some stage lights, chairs set up stadium style on two walls, and a set.

Then you’ll see the actors. They are a small group of about 10, all different ages, races, sizes and skill levels. The usual chaos of the theatre is not hidden behind curtains here. Actors, stage managers and directors all bustle about right before the show in view of the audience. Then the lights dim, and the show begins.

If you visit the theatre now, you’ll see “The Firebugs,” a play originally written by Max Frisch for radio in the 1950s. But do a little research or simply watch the play, and the reason the theatre chose to produce this play will become clear.

Written after World War II, the play tells the story of a well-to-do suburban couple whose neighborhood is plagued by arsonists (firebugs). In short, the couple not only takes the arsonists into their home but also aids them in the destruction of the very doors they opened in kindness. The tale outlines what happens when good people allow evil things to happen and do nothing to stop it. This was Frisch’s commentary on Nazism in Europe.

But why now? And why this play? Considering the theatre’s mission to awaken a generation from passivity, it’s clear the evil being referred to in this play could be any number of varieties: the current administration, the horrors of Darfur, the destruction of our environment, or indeed any wrongdoing that we allow to occur as we sit idly by. The message is a good one, but every leftist — and many right-wingers, too — are preaching for change and action. This is just another one of those plays.

As for the production itself, it is solid and strong. With the use of a projection system, the chorus of firemen who pop up from time to time for some comic relief bring a sense of professionalism to the set.

Most of the actors look exactly how you may imagine their characters would. The character of Biedermann, the husband, is not the image I had in my head, though this version works too. And in hell, I’m not sure semi-fetish dress was what I would have chosen for the devil and his minions. Beelzebub donned a Sox hat. I always new those Sox were getting help from somewhere.

The dialogue, especially in the beginning of the play, is fast. If you don’t pay attention, you will miss a lot of good lines and some of the sly undertones presented by the characters. Each line is delivered with a sense of conviction, and you can’t help but believe every line coming out of the mouths of the firebugs or Biedermann and his wife.

The firebugs do nothing to hide their plans from the couple, and Biedermann does everything he can to find the actions of the firebugs amusing. It’s not evil right before his eyes; it’s just a good joke between friends. This leaves the audience wanting to scream at the actors to wake up and smell the fiery pits of hell right in front of them. But, considering the history of the world and the inaction and cooperation often given to evil, it’s hard to say when you would have stepped in and called the police.

The theme that stood out to me, rather than inaction in the face of wickedness, was the balance the couple is forced to find between good-heartedness and good sense. When do you trust your gut and kick the shady characters to the curb? When do you look past stereotypes and trust somebody you don’t know?

Here is a hint: When gasoline is being stored in your attic and a man asks for help in measuring a fuse, that’s a good time to hide the matches.

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