No longer booking
  • Venue Roundhouse, London
  • Performance dates Booking to 8 November 2023
  • Running time 90 minutes (no interval)
  • Age guidelines 12+

Trueman and the Arsonists: An amoral morality play with songs is now playing at the Studio Theatre at the Roundhouse in London.

Max Frisch’s Trueman and the Arsonists explores how moral lethargy can invite evil in – even encouraging you to give it a warm blanket and a nice dinner.

This major new version of Max Frisch’s play ‘Biedermann und die Brandstifter’, is adapted by award-winning writer and director Simon Stephens (Song From Far Away, The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time), features songs by Chris Thorpe, and is directed by Abigail Graham (The Merchant of Venice – Shakespeare’s Globe).

The satirical play is about a city that is gripped by an outbreak of arson, and upstanding citizen Trueman refuses to believe his lodgers hoarding petrol in his spare room could in any way be connected!

Trueman and the Arsonists is playing at the Roundhouse Studio Theatre in London from 18 October to 8 November 2023.

Fires keep starting. All across the city, arsonists worm their way into respectable people’s homes only to burn them all down. It’s a plague. And we don’t know why.

But Trueman is no fool. He can spot an arsonist from a mile away. These two strangers with troubled pasts who turn up on his doorstep asking for a spare room can’t be arsonists. They’re too polite. Like him. Everybody is far too respectable to act on their suspicions. Even when they fill his attic with barrels of petrol and ask him to help measure the fuse.

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Performance Information

Check booking calendar for full details

Stars and Creatives

Who is in the cast of Trueman and the Arsonists?

Adam Owers as Trueman, Nadine Ivy Barr as Bobsy, Thara Schöön as Anna, Tommy Oldroyd as Smith, Angela Jones as Ironside, Charlotte O’Leary as Police Officer/Professor/Mrs Waits, and Aaron Douglas as Chorus.

Who are the creative team of Trueman and the Arsonists?

Written by Max Frisch, in a new version by Simon Stephens, with songs by Chris Thorpe.

Produced by represent.

Important Notes

Access performances:

Sat 28 October, 7:30pm: This is a BSL performance
Thu 2 November, 7:30pm: This performance includes captioning

Content warning:

This show contains haze, smoking, use of strong language and disscussion of suicide. Sensory warning includes sudden loud noise.

Venue Information

Roundhouse , Chalk Farm Road, London, NW1 8EH

Nearest Tube or Train: Camden (Northern Line)

Nearest Buses: 24, 27, 31, 168, 393

Directions

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Frequently Asked Questions

Trueman and the Arsonists is playing at the Roundhouse in London
The running time of Trueman and the Arsonists is 90 minutes (no interval)
The age recommendations for Trueman and the Arsonists are: 12+
Yes, Trueman and the Arsonists has matinee performances on the following days: Saturday
No, sorry, Trueman and the Arsonists has now completed its run and is no longer on sale.

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