necessary for his own survival. In that sense, the play shares much with absurdist plays written at around the same time, such as Eugene Ionesco's Rhinoceros. The name Biedermann is itself a play on the German word "bieder" meaning conventional, conservative, worthy, honest, upright and is frequently used in a pejorative or ironic context. Thus the name equates to der biedere Mann or the worthy man. Bieder is associated with Biedermeier, a cultural style of the 19th century prominent for its association with a type of petite bourgeoisie mindset. Production history The Fire Raisers, translated by Michael Bullock, was produced in London on December 21, 1961, at the Royal Court Theatre with Alfred Marks as Biedermann. Jules Irving and Herbert Blau directed a San Francisco Actor's Workshop production of The Firebugs on February 28, 1964. Bullock's translation was also staged by the Edinburgh Gateway Company in the Autumn of 1964. Mordecai Gorelik, research professor of theater at Southern Illinois University, wrote the authorized English translation and directed it to positive reviews in 1964 while a Visiting Professor at California State University, Los Angeles, and again June 1–5, 1965 at SIU. The inmates of San Quentin Prison staged The Firebugs in June, 1965. The first United States performance that included the epilogue was directed by Edwin Duerr on May 16, 1968, at California State College, Fullerton. During his brief tenure as Director of the Liverpool Playhouse Bernard Hepton put on the play, which featured in his effort to move the theatre’s repertoire beyond its normal fare. A new translation of the play by Alistair Beaton entitled The Arsonists, featuring Benedict Cumberbatch, was produced at London's Royal Court Theatre in November 2007, under the direction of Ramin Gray. It was also performed in 1968 at the Bristol Old Vic with Tim Pigott-Smith as one of the Fireraisers. The play has been adapted into the opera Biedermann und die Brandstifter by Šimon Voseček (premiered in 2013 at the Neue Oper Wien in Vienna). The English version Biedermann and the Arsonists, translated by David Pountney, was performed at the Independent Opera at Sadler's Wells in November 2015. (director: Max Hoehn, conductor: Tim Redmond). In September, 2017, Washington's Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company produced an updated staging of the play, almost immediately after the election of Donald Trump. The script was from the translation by Alistair Beaton and directed by Michael Garcés. The theater cast their