The Empire Builders

The Empire Builders (Les Bâtisseurs d'empire in the original French) is a play by Boris Vian, published in 1959. It follows a family made up of the father, Leon, the mother, Ana, the daughter, Zenobia, and a maid, Cruche, who climb from floor to floor of a building laden with bags and belongings, driven onward by an intense noise that grows steadily louder. On the landings they encounter the Schmürz, a figure wrapped in bloodied bandages from wounds that never stop bleeding.

The characters disappear from the group one by one. Cruche leaves the building after a heated argument with Leon, and Zenobia is left terrified and shut in on a landing when the doors close while the Schmürz begins to laugh. Only the couple remain, still climbing. Leon, on the top floor, feels guilty after his wife's disappearance and fires at the Schmürz without effect. Trying to ignore the noise, he manages to overcome the creature, but the knocking at the door becomes unbearable. Leon throws himself out of the window, and the play ends with the door slowly opening to admit the Schmürz.

The play premiered at the Théâtre National Populaire in Villeurbanne in 1959, and reached Spain at the Teatro Alfil in Madrid in 1976.