About the work
Dürrenmatt wrote his first drama in 1945/46. It premiered on 19 April 1947 at the Schauspielhaus Zürich, directed by Kurt Horwitz, and caused a theatre scandal through its drastic imagery and its many biblical allusions.
Plot
The play traces the rise and fall of the Anabaptist kingdom in Münster between 1533 and 1536: the impostor Johann Bockelson claims to be a messenger of angels and makes himself king of the city, while the wealthy citizen Bernhard Knipperdollinck, driven by genuine religious fervour, sacrifices his fortune, wife and child; both are ultimately broken on the wheel in public.
Cultural significance
In 1948 Dürrenmatt received the Welti Prize for Drama for the play; in 1967 he thoroughly reworked the material into the new version "Die Wiedertäufer," which has been considered the authoritative stage version ever since.