Cast Set For TRUEMAN AND THE ARSONISTS at the Studio Theatre at the Roundhouse

represent. has announced full casting for Max Frisch’s Biedermann und die Brandstifter - Trueman and the Arsonists - in a new version by Simon Stephens, with songs by Chris Thorpe.  

Abigail Graham directs Adam Owers (Trueman), Nadine Ivy Barr (Bobsy), Thara Schöön (Anna), Tommy Oldroyd (Smith), Angela Jones (Hadid), Charlotte O’Leary (Police Officer/Professor/Mrs Waits) and Aaron Douglas and Lucy Yates (Chorus). With Design by Lizzy Leech, Lighting Design by Rajiv Pattani, Sound Design by Zac Gvi, Costume Supervision by Katie Kelson and with casting by Sarah Leung. 

The production opens at the Studio Theatre at the Roundhouse on 24 October, with previews from 18 October, and runs until 8 November. 

Director Abigail Graham comments: “Simon Stephens and Chris Thorpe have written a brilliant version of Max Frisch’s play. It interrogates the theatrical form, asks big questions about us as individuals and the social system we are part of, while also being incredibly funny. It’s the type of text which is a gift for artists and audiences. I can’t wait to start rehearsals with this incredibly talented ensemble.” 

represent. is on a mission to create an exceptional, professional theatre company of people from lower socio-economic backgrounds, providing an accessible platform for those with barriers to entry into the arts. 

represent. presents 

TRUEMAN AND THE ARSONISTS 

Written by Max Frisch 

In a new version by Simon Stephens, with songs by Chris Thorpe 

18 October – 8 November 2023 

Press night: Tuesday 24 October at 7:30pm 

Director: Abigail Graham; Designer: Lizzy Leech; Lighting Designer: Rajiv Pattani; Sound Designer: Zac Gvi; Costume Supervisor: Katie Kelson; Casting Director: Sarah Leung 

Cast: Adam Owers (Trueman), Nadine Ivy Barr (Bobsy), Thara Schöön (Anna), Tommy Oldroyd (Smith), Angela Jones (Hadid), Charlotte O’Leary (Police Officer/Professor/Mrs Waits), and Aaron Douglas and Lucy Yates (Chorus) 

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 gentlemen 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. 

In a new version by Simon Stephens, with songs by Chris Thorpe, 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 is an amoral morality play. It’s also got songs in it. 

Simon Stephens’ plays include Vanya, Cornelia Street, Morning Sun, Fortune, Light Falls, Maria, Fatherland, Rage, Heisenberg, Nuclear War, Song from Far Away; Birdland, Carmen Disruption, Blindsided, Morning, Three Kingdoms, Wastwater, Punk Rock, The Trial of Ubu, Marine Parade,  Sea Wall, Harper Regan, Pornography, Motortown, On the Shore of the Wide World, One Minute, Country Music, Christmas, Port, Herons, and Bluebird. He has adapted Jose Saramago’s Blindness for the stage and also Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. He has written English language versions of Jon Fosse’s I Am the Wind; Odon von Horvath’s Kasimir and Karoline (titled The Funfair); Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House; Anton Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard and The Seagull and Bertolt Brecht and Kurt Weill’s Threepenny Opera. He has presented four series of the Royal Court Playwright’s Podcast. His book “A Working Diary” is published by Methuen. Stephens has been an Associate at the Royal Court, London and Steep, Chicago and a board member of Paines Plough. He has been an Associate Artist at the Lyric, Hammersmith, a Professor of Scriptwriting at Manchester Metropolitan University and an Associate Professor at the Danish National School of the Performing Arts, Copenhagen. 

Chris Thorpe is an Associate Artist at the Royal Exchange Manchester. His work for them includes There Has Possibly Been an Incident and The Mysteries. Other theatre credits include Victory Condition (Royal Court Theatre), Hannah (Unicorn Theatre), Dark Woods, Deep Snow. A Grimm Tale, The Moon The Moon (Northern Stage), I Wish I Was Lonely (Edinburgh Festival Fringe), Dead End, House/Garden, Overdrama (mala vaodora), Mission to Mars (Polka Theatre), Oh F***k Moment, Come to Where I’m From, Presumption, The Ethics of Progress, Tangle (UK tours), What I Heard About the World, Parts for Machines That Do Things (Sheffield Theatres), High Speed Impact. Test Number One (Contact Theatre), Here I Am, Huddersfield (West Yorkshire Playhouse), Down the Wires (Lowry Theatre), and A Clockwork Orange (National Theatre – in collaboration with Benji Reid). 

Nadine Ivy Barr plays Bobsy. She has recently graduated from LAMDA. Her theatre credits include Nothing But Green Lights From Here (Golden Goose Theatre), Valid Reasons To Quit Your Job (CuckooBang Theatre Company), Salt, Stuffing (Beacon Arts Centre), and I Don’t Care (The Cockpit). 

Aaron Douglas’ theatre credits for represent. include Interruptions, Albatross and Money. Other theatre credits include Paddington Lo-Commotion (Blenheim Palace), Stick Man Live (Leicester Square Theatre), Cruise (Apollo Theatre London), Twelfth Night (East London Shakespeare Festival), Passing (Theatre Royal Haymarket, RADA Studios), Girlboss (Southwark Playhouse), Wonder Boy (Arcola Theatre), A Family Affair (Austria tour with Vienna’s English Theatre), Kensuke’s Kingdom (Edinburgh Festival Fringe). 

Angela Jones plays Hadid. She is a recent graduate of LAMDA and was the Spotlight Prize Winner in 2022. Her theatre credits include Lord of the Flies (Leeds Playhouse and Rose Theatre Kingston) and The Two Popes (Rose Theatre Kingston). Television credits include Jerk.  

Tommy Oldroyd plays Smith. He recently graduated from East 15 Acting School. His theatre credits include Prison Dialogues (Brighton Fringe Festival). 

Charlotte O’Leary’s theatre credits include Jerusalem (Royal Court Theatre), Shandyland (Northern Stage), When the Sea Swallows Us (VAULT Festival), On The Other Hand, We’re Happy, Daughterhood, Dexter and Winter’s Detective Agency, Island Town, Sticks and Stones, How to Spot an Alien (Paines Plough, Theatr Clwyd), Mission Control (National Theatre Wales), Under Milk Wood (The Watermill Theatre), Hush (Paines Plough) and Three Days in the Country, The Two Gentlemen of Verona and Three Sisters (The Richard Burton Theatre Company). 

Adam Owers plays Trueman. He is a recent graduate from Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts.  

Thara Schöön makes her professional stage debut as Anna. Her television credits include the forthcoming The Acolyte; and for film, the upcoming Oberon.  

Lucy Yates’ theatre credits include The Lost Spells (UK tour), Jonny Feathers The Rock and Roll Pigeon (Riverside Studios, Park Theatre) and a self-written punk musical PataFlaFla (The Pleasance Theatre, The Bridge House Theatre). She is a fellow of the Birkbeck Centre for Contemporary Theatre and permanent member of indie-rock band CHARLESCANTBREATHE. 

Abigail Graham directs. Her previous directing credits for theatre include Macbeth, The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare’s Globe), Aladdin (Lyric Hammersmith), MUM (Plymouth Drum, Soho Theatre), The Tyler Sisters (Hampstead Theatre), 31 Hours (The Bunker), Death of a Salesman (Royal and Derngate, UK tour), And Now: The World! (UK tour), Timmy Failure: Mistakes Were Made (Assembly Rooms), Debris (Southwark Playhouse), Molly Sweeney (The Coronet Theatre, Lyric Theatre Belfast). She was the founding Artistic Director of OpenWorks Theatre 2013-2017, the Lead Artist of the Bush Neighbourhood Company 2021, and was the Director of the Lyric Hammersmith Young Ensemble 2019-2020.  

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