The Physicists

PlayThe Physicists

The Physicists was written in 1961 and is a satirical drama often recognised as the most impressive yet most easily understood work of the Swiss writer Friedrich Dürrenmatt. Informed by the Second World War and the many recent advances in science and nuclear technology, the play deals with questions of scientific ethics and mankind's ability to handle its intellectual responsibilities. The play was first performed in Zürich in 1962 and this translation of Dürrenmatt's original work was first produced in the UK by The Royal Shakespeare Company at the Aldwych in 1963.

The story is set in the drawing room of the oldest building in the Les Cerisiers sanatorium for the mentally ill, run by psychiatrist Mathilde von Zahnd. This drawing room connects to three sick rooms each of which is inhabited by a single mentally ill patient. These three men, all physicists by trade, are permitted use of the drawing room, where they are periodically monitored by the female nurses that are charged with their care. The first patient is Herbert Georg Beutler, and he believes that he is Sir Isaac Newton. The second patient is Ernst Heinrich Ernesti, who believes himself to be Albert Einstein. The third patient is Johann Wilhelm Möbius, and he believes that he is regularly visited by the biblical King Solomon. When the play begins, "Einstein" has just killed one of his nurses, and the police are examining the scene. It is revealed through their discussion that this is the second slaying of a nurse by one of these three patients in just three months, the first having been committed by "Newton".

The motive behind these two murders becomes clear in the play's second act, when it is revealed with startling abruptness that none of the three patients is mad. They are all only faking insanity. Möbius is actually an incredibly brilliant physicist whose discoveries include such fabled results as a solution to the problem of gravitation, a "Unitary Theory of Elementary Particles", and the "Principle of Universal Discovery". Fearing what mankind could do with these powerful discoveries, Möbius chose not to reveal his work. He instead feigned madness, that he might be committed to a sanatorium and thus protected along with his knowledge. Möbius, though, failed to avoid attention. "Einstein" and "Newton" are both spies, representatives of two different countries, and they have penetrated Les Cerisiers in order to secure Möbius' documents and, if possible, the man himself. Each spy murdered a nurse to protect his secrets and to strengthen his simulation of madness.

In the play's climactic scene, all three men reveal their secrets, and each spy attempts to convince Möbius to come with him. It is he, however, who is successful in convincing them. He persuades them that the secrets he has discovered are too terrible for man to know and assures them that their efforts are in vain because he recently burned all the papers that he developed during his time in the sanatorium. After much debate, the three men finally agree that they are content to protect mankind by living out the rest of their lives in captivity.

However, these noble plans are thwarted by the play's final plot twist. Fraulein Doktor Mathilde von Zahnd, head of Les Cerisiers, enters the drawing room and reveals to the three men that she has eavesdropped on their entire conversation. Furthermore, she has known about Möbius for years and has been secretly copying his documents and using his scientific discoveries to construct an international empire. She believes that King Solomon is speaking to her, and she believes that with his guidance and Möbius' discoveries she can become the most powerful woman on earth.

The story ends with a sense of impending doom. Möbius, "Newton", and "Einstein" have been outmaneuvered and trapped. "Those things which were thought can never be unthought." The play ends with each of the three men speaking directly and pitiably to the audience, emphasizing their plight and the plight of all mankind.

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