Andorra (play)

The original text came from a prose sketch Frisch had written in his diary titled Der andorranische Jude (The Andorran Jew).

Andri is a young man who has been raised by the Teacher (der Lehrer) and the Mother (die Mutter) as their Jewish adopted son alongside their daughter Barblin; the Teacher claims to have rescued Andri from the anti-Semitic Blacks (die Schwarzen) in the neighbouring country.

Each townsperson attempts to rationalise their involvement in Andri's death; only the Priest (der Pater) is willing to accept any guilt.

Andri confronts Barblin about her relationship with the Soldier, and tells her to kiss him; he is not acting rationally at this point.

This is shown to be a show trial; despite Barblin and the Mother's attempts to disrupt the process, the other townspeople co-operate.

Barblin has her head shaved (earlier in the play, the Blacks are rumoured to do this to the wives of Jews) and goes mad.

She does not fully accept that Andri has died, and leaves his shoes on the stage, stopping people from touching them.

Frisch uses these techniques, as he wanted to create a dramatic situation where a character is mistaken for a Jew when he really wasn't one.

However, it concerns more than just prejudice: many of the characters have something to gain from Andri's being a Jew: the Teacher has been able to present himself as a Good Samaritan, the Soldier can get Barblin, the Carpenter can make money; even the Priest can demonstrate his Christian sympathy for the outsider.

[citation needed] This idea is likely to have been inspired by the phrase "to put oneself in someone else's shoes", which exists in German as in English.

In 1964, Andorra was translated and adapted for an English language audience by Michael Bullock and produced by the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain, directed by Lindsay Anderson.