born Jan. 5, 1921, Konolfingen, near Bern, Switz.
died Dec. 14, 1990, Neuchâtel
Swiss playwright.
His plays, showing the influence of Bertolt Brecht as well as the Theatre of the Absurd , were central to the post-1945 revival of the German theatre. In his first three plays, All as It Is Written (1947), The Marriage of Mr. Mississippi (1952), and An Angel Comes to Babylon (1953), he took comic liberties with historical facts to present parables about modern life. His play The Visit (1956) and the modern morality play The Physicists (1962) earned him international acclaim. After 1970 he wrote adaptations, detective novels, radio plays, and essays. His works have been translated into more than 50 languages.