THE PHYSICISTS

About the show

Imagine discovering the world formula. A discovery that, in the wrong hands, could spell the end of humanity. What to do? Announce it? Hide it? Or feign insanity to save the world? The physicist Möbius decides to feign insanity. To protect the formula from misuse, he retreats to a sanatorium run by Dr. Mathilde von Zahnd. There, two mysterious murders of nurses occur. The perpetrators seem to be quickly found. But it soon becomes apparent that nothing is as it seems. Dürrenmatt wrote his play in the shadow of the Cold War and the nuclear threat, yet today the play is more relevant than ever. The “world formula” remains a symbol of scientific discoveries whose consequences can no longer be controlled. At a time when knowledge means power – and power is rarely moral – the play asks the uncomfortable question: Who is responsible for what is conceivable? With works such as Romulus the Great, The Visit, and The Physicists, Dürrenmatt became one of the most influential playwrights of the 20th century.