We were having a veritable Max Frisch fest that spring, having seen Biography at The Questors just a few weeks earlier:
In those days, The Riverside Studios were doing some quite large theatre productions. This was part of a season, I believe, hence the generic season programme cover above.
I rated this very good and I’m sure Frances de la Tour and Malcolm Tierney were excellent, but I’m not sure this is the best Fire Raisers production we have seen. We returned to the piece some years later to see Benedict Cumberbatch in this play (translated as The Arsonists) at the Royal Court, which I think was a more dynamic production.
Still, very good is very good. Michael Billington said these faint praise things about it:
Billington on Fire Raisers Thu, Jun 1, 1995 – 30 · The Guardian (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com
Michael Coveney was also unsure about it:
Coveney on Fire Raisers Sun, Jun 4, 1995 – 78 · The Observer (London, Greater London, England) · Newspapers.com