Premiered in the UK by Cerberus Theatre in 2011, Count Oederland was written by Max Frisch in 1951 and provoked riots in Europe. The play combines elements of fairy tale, philosophy and the political. Much of the ‘otherness’ of the piece is conveyed through a monochrome Warhol inspired backdrop of faceless suited headshots designed by Mike Lees,  with sparse and deliberate use of block colours in the costumes and lighting (Jethro Compton) and an eerie slightly mystical soundscape (Philippa Herrick). The highly stylised production is played out on a steeply raked stage giving a sense of altered perception but also proving challenging at times for cast and props.

A seemingly random murder committed by a bank clerk (Christopher Birks) comes to represent the uprising of a movement. Imprisoned awaiting trial, he parallels confinement in one’s daily life with literal incarceration behind bars, reflecting that his weekly anticipation of a free day was a greater pleasure than Sunday itself, when by halftime at the football match, the lead weight of beginning another working week had descended.  An expression of remorse for the crime committed would lessen his sentence but also invalidate the act as a protest. His prosecutor (Simon Norbury) is the first to grasp the symbolism of the act and, assuming the persona of the mythical Count Oederland,  embarks on an axe murdering frenzy. A rebel figure, he inspires a movement and a revolution. Evelyn Adams, in an accomplished portrayal, plays the fairy/countess of his mind, the muse for his actions. Written by Swiss playwright Max Frisch and translated by Michael Bullock, the play originates in Europe’s perhaps most ordered and regulated society but reflects a global sense of chaos or breaking of chains as the apparently random nonsensical act of violence by one individual wakens a wider rebellion. Much of the irony in the script relates to order and political control within society.

The Establishment responds, in a farcical effort to suppress the tidal wave of revolution, before an ultimate attempt at negotiation poses the deep dilemma within revolution for the rebel:   to assume power yourself is to become a part of that which you have resisted, and thus renounce freedom. In a final twist, the prosecutor come booted and leather-clad axe murderer now stands as if trapped in a nightmare, ignorant of his actions wishing he could just wake up.

Director Christopher Loscher succeeds in grasping the contemporary and perhaps everlasting relevance of Frisch’s play: that the myth becomes greater than the individuals who play it out, and that power can be so drastically transferred in swift acts of regime change. The cast handle the drama proficiently in a well acted interpretation of the surreal wanderings of life. An escalating sense of the absurd proved somewhat restrained in the latter half of the evening, nonetheless, the production succeeds in engaging the audience and raising deeply relevant and interesting issues of ideology.

Arcola Studio 1 until 21 January

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