The Physicists

Summary

1963 BBC production of The Physicists by Friedrich Dürrenmatt.

Theatre play

The Physicists [Die Physiker] by Friedrich Dürrenmatt [more information]

Play synopsis

Described as a comedy, this play is ‘Informed by the Second World War and the many recent advances in science and nuclear technology’ and it ‘deals with questions of scientific ethics and humanity’s ability to handle its intellectual responsibilities. [...] The story is set in the drawing room of Les Cerisiers sanatorium, an idyllic home for the mentally ill, run by famed 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".' Source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Physicists.

Production history

Written in 1961, and published and performed (in Zurich) in 1962. First performed in Britain in July 1963 by the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Date of transmission

Saturday 21 December 1963

Time

8.50-10.20pm

Channel

BBC Television

Production company

BBC

Credits

Director

Cedric Messina

Producer

Peter Luke

Playwright

Friedrich Dürrenmatt

Translator

James Kirkup

Designer

Roy Oxley

Story Editor

Harry Moore

Cast

Harry Baird	McArthur
John Bennett	Inspector Voss
Philip Blaine	Guhl
Anne Cunningham	Nurse Monika
Stephen Heather	Wilfried-Kaspar
Haydn Jones	Oskar Rose
Michael Kilgarriff	O’Grady
Paul Layton	Adolf-Friedrich
Peter Layton	Blocher
Roger Livesey	'Einstein’
Barbara Lott	Frau Rose
Marion Mathie	Head Nurse
Neil McCarthy	Uwe Sievers
Philip Morant	Police Doctor
Patrick Morbin	Jorg-Lukas
Mary Morris	Doktor von Zahnd
Eric Porter	'Newton’
Tom Watson	Mobius

Additional details

Origination

Recorded in studio

Vision original

Monochrome

Later transmissions

Repeated on BBC2 at 7.25pm on Sunday 14 February 1965

Extant status

No archival copy is known to exist.

Play tags

comedy; ethics; mental health / illness; murder; science; Swiss drama

Print sources

Title

Radio Times, 11 February 1965 (Magazine)

Linking notes

article and photo, p. 13, listing, p. 15

Title

Radio Times, 19 December 1963 (Magazine)

Linking notes

article, p. 9; listing, p. 11