Theater: Swiss Cheese

The Physicists opens with a corpse stretched out on the stage, and the play promptly follows suit. The setting is a sanitarium for the insane, but the chief delusion of the evening is harbored by Swiss Playwright Friedrich Duerrenmatt (The Visit), who plainly believes that he is a deep thinker. He dispenses fat, fuzzy thoughts on atomic scientists, moral responsibility, and the apocalyptic menace of the bomb as if he were imparting profound revelations rather than portentous bromides.

The initial idea for the play could have been mouthed by a New York cab driver: Those atomic scientists are crazy, man; they belong...

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