After The café shop, Igor Horvat directs The physicists by Friedrich Dürrenmatt, a grotesque tragicomedy for which he also translated. The world premiere will be held at the LAC on Tuesday 5, with a repeat on November 6, and the show will be on stage at the Teatro Sociale Bellinzona on November 14 and 15. The show is a production of LAC Lugano Arte e Cultura, co-produced by Teatro Sociale Bellinzona – Bellinzona Teatro, and created in collaboration with the Centre Dürrenmatt in Neuchâtel.

The famous Swiss playwright Dürrenmatt wrote the text using a style between detective story and spy story, with the aim of reflecting on the future of human beings. The writing of the The physicists, a comedy published in 1961, was born from the author's deep disquiet following the development and use of the atomic bomb during the Second World War.

Horvat – who also plays police inspector Richard Voss – directs a cast of actors already known at the LAC: Catherine Bertoni de Laet (Galileo process, director of Bogdaproste), Jonathan Lazzini (A Midsummer Night's Dream), Marco Mavaracchio (The flea in the ear), Giorgia Senesi (Seagull e Iphigenia, released) and Pierluigi Corallo, a solidly experienced actor at his first participation in a LAC production. The cast is completed by the trusted group of collaborators who have already accompanied Horvat in the staging of The coffee shop: the set designer Guido Buganza, the costume designer Ilaria Ariemme, the composer Zeno Gabaglio, the assistant director Ugo Fiore, with the addition of the lighting designer Marzio Picchetti.

The comedy takes place inside a private psychiatric institution, the clinic “Les Cerisiers”. One of the patients is the physicist Möbius, believed to have discovered the “System of All Possible Discoveries”, an immense instrument of knowledge, which would involve infinite possibilities, terrible responsibilities and unimaginable power. Curiously, two other patients also believe themselves to be physicists: one claims to be Isaac Newton, the other Albert Einstein. A worrying series of murders upsets the balance of the clinic, triggering the intervention of the police and starting a series of unexpected twists and revelations. Dangerous secrets emerge, raising ethical questions and dragging the story towards a paradox, which for Dürrenmatt represents an essential key to understanding reality.

“We are living through extremely complex times,” said Igor Horvat. “Geopolitical balances are being reformed under the threat of nuclear weapons, and we are living in a new phase of a Cold War that has never really ended. Technological progress opens up trans-human and post-human scenarios, igniting the debate on technological singularity. The ecosystem and the climate are sending us signals that can no longer be ignored.

A text that crosses the ages becomes a classic because it maintains the ability to question us. It is said: 'it is still current, contemporary'. In reality, it tragically reveals that the human race has not achieved change and is still stuck in front of the same substantial questions. Herein lies the warning that Dürrenmatt delivers to us with his caustic sarcasm: the human being must take responsibility for his own future and for the way in which he wants to continue to live on the planet that hosts us.”

The audiovisual transposition of the project enriches the project The physicists, curated by the young Ticino director Agnese Làposi, winner of the first edition of the competition in Italian for original audiovisual works that rework footage of live performances. The project was selected by the competition promoted by the association 'De la scène à l'écran', formed by SRG SSR/RTS, the Swiss Authors' Society (SSA), the SUISSIMAGE cultural foundation and the Romanda Audiovisual Production Association (AROPA).

Not only “The Physicists”, but many collateral events

The debut of The physicists will be accompanied by various meetings included in the focus Echoes from the future, theme of the 2024/25 Season:

  • Thursday 24 October, 12pm: Let's have lunch at the theatre – digital meeting on theatre with philosopher Silvio Joller, who will explore some themes of Dürrenmatt’s comedy.
  • Saturday 26 October, 14:00 pm: Knitting Café – Knitting and chatting about theatre, in an informal atmosphere with Agata Pellandini.
  • Wednesday, November 6, 18:00 p.m.: Igor Horvat talks with Nadine Murgida, spokesperson for the Centre Dürrenmatt Neuchâtel, on the occasion of the Centre's 25th anniversary.
  • Saturday 8 February 2025, 11pm: Stefano Mancuso will talk about communication networks between plants, with a view to global sustainability.
  • Monday, February 17, 2025, 18:30 p.m.: Guido Tonelli, physicist and popularizer, will be the protagonist of a meeting on Art and Science: A Story of Surprising Relationships.

The show and the collateral meetings are part of the thematic itinerary Science, Ethics and Art, created in collaboration with the IBSA Foundation for scientific research.