I saw immediate theater project's production of
Copenhagen at the BeBe Theater last Saturday night.
We expected (after itp's absolutely brilliant All
My Sons) it to be good, and were right. Copenhagen
was almost as shattering as All My Sons, but in a
different way. It is extremely talky -- just three
people talking and talking, on stage all the time --
but very moving.
All three actors were excellent. Kay Galvin is always
wonderful; we hadn't seen the other two before. They
seemed just right -- Lance Ball as the nervy Heisenberg
and Earl Leininger as the "good man", the fatherly Bohr.
Really there wasn't much to fault in the whole production
-- a couple of tiny and unimportant stumbles over lines
is all I can come up with if I think really hard.
The play is suitable, even edifying, for adults and
high school students. It's about... Life and
theoretical physics? History? Subjectivity? Lots of
interesting things on lots of levels. Overtly it's
about a meeting between Bohr and Heisenberg in Copenhagen
during the Nazi occupation of Denmark. (There's also a
lot of interesting history -- like the amazing escape
of most of Denmark's Jews, and the fact that several of
the guys who came up with the Bomb were Jews who had fled
to America.)
Michael Frayn (the playwright) is quite a guy -- to have
had the understanding of the very counter-intuitive concepts
of theoretical physics that he must have had to have written
the play -- and somehow applied them to life -- is impressive.
(And then he becomes a Brueghel expert for his excellent
novel Headlong!)
So don't miss it -- Copenhagen ends this weekend, on the 30th.
itp's doing some other interesting things over the next year --
check out their website.
--Tahani Sticpewich
27 September 2007
Copenhagen
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3 comments:
C-T again...
http://www.citizen-times.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=200770927081
BG
Theater review: ‘Copenhagen’ is an intellectual theater experience
by Jim Cavener, take5 Correspondent
published September 28, 2007 12:15 am
ASHEVILLE — Theater lovers who want their diversions served as fluff and trivia have loved playwright Michael Frayn’s “Noises Off.” But those who like their theater in the form of intellectual stimulation, significant subject matter and superbly nuanced acting will prefer the same writer’s “Copenhagen,” performed by the immediate theatre project, at the BeBe Theatre in Asheville. These are two quite different approaches to theater, indeed.
It’s an imagined and articulate inquiry into the creation of the global nuclear horror some 60-plus years ago.
It helps to know a bit about quantum mechanics, nuclear fission and theoretical physics fully to grasp all implications of this mathematically elegant script. Yet the rest of us still can appreciate the human complexities in the relationships between three fascinating mid-20th-century figures integral to the development of the atomic bomb, before and during World War II.
“Copenhagen” has a stark and somber setting in the barren, black box of the BeBe theater, with only the black walls, three maple stools, 40 white lights and three black-clad actors in the performing area. The male actors’ dark suits are set off by white shirts. The single woman on stage has a string of huge white pearls above her dark dress, and there is a white panel at the back of the stage that is pivotal to a startling scene well into the second act of the show.
Two of Western North Carolina’s most respected actors play Niels and Margrethe Bohr, a Danish physicist and his wife. Kay Galvin gives as good a performance as we have seen from her in the decade when she has brilliantly captured such as Eleanor of Aquaitaine, Lady Macbeth and Vivian in “Wit.”
The venerable Earl Leininger, veteran of more than 30 years on local stages, mostly at Souther Appalachian Repertory Theater, is still in his prime as Niels Bohr. The German physicist, Werner Heisenberg, is played by newcomer to Asheville, Lance Ball, who has trod the boards in New York and New England, and it shows. Ball holds his own among these two local legends.
The company’s artistic director, Hans Meyer, has drawn these three into a quite tight ensemble to present Frayn’s wordy and demanding script with total brilliance. The material is deep and deserving. It presents thwarted, but noble human aspirations, assuming that there was within the scientific community during World War II an awareness of the potential global horror of atomic armaments. The development of that century’s greatest threat to human survival makes for powerful stage work, for sure.
The newest play being performed at the BeBe Theater is “Copenhagen,” a play that speculates about the legendary conversation between Jewish scientist Neils Bohr and his former prodigy, German Nationalist Werner Heisenberg just before the invention of the atom bomb.
Man, oh man, what an undertaking this play is for both actor and director!
Have you ever seen a play, and thought, “How did they find so many good actors who could, not only act, but perform several other feats, talents, or skills that the play required?” Well, this play calls for a cast of three that all must portray complicated characters, be able to speak educatedly on theoretical physics, and be capable of doing a 30 minute dialogue on dividing atoms and firing neutrons with minimal movement and keep the audience engaged.
Kudos to director Hans Meyer and to the rest of the immediate theatre project for even endeavoring to produce this play.
This is a peculiar play. While it is a most intriguing story and a very well-written play, there is little to no theatrics to it whatsoever. For a 2 and a ½ hr. play, the lack of fluff makes it feel a little dry. It is hard to keep in mind that “Copenhagen” was written by Michael Frayn, who also wrote the hysterical farce, “Noises Off.”
Actors Lance Ball and Earl Leininger bore the brunt of the acting challenge, playing respectively Heisenberg and Bohr. The two characters have a difficult relationship, being friends, adversaries, and teacher and student. Ball and Leininger do a fantastic job of combining all those aspects into one awkward, but familial bond.
Having said that, I must admit that my favorite performance in the show was given by actress Kay Galvin, who played Bohr’s Alice Kramden-like wife. I have loved Galvin’s work in everything I have ever seen her in. I found this role to be particularly impressive, as she spends a great deal of the play on stage, but silent and never loses character. She is undoubtedly the funniest character in the show and electrifies every scene she is in.
Leininger plays Bohr as benevolent, yet puzzled and conflicted. He is very convincing, playing Bohr’s want to love Heisenberg unconditionally, but not being able to reconcile that Heisenberg is researching to put atomic weapons in the hands of the Nazis.
Ball plays Heisenberg as cocky, frustrated, and confused. He wears this well and it fits the character. My only qualm with his performance was that he played it with very little charm. Not that Heisenberg was known for being particularly charming, but to believe that the Bohrs would feel compelled to invite him to dinner repeatedly even though he is technically working for the Nazis, is a little hard to swallow unless he is endearing on some level. This also makes him come off as glib when he speaks about the horrors he witnessed during wartime in Germany.
All the actors gave fine performances, although the lines were a little murky at parts.
Meyer embraces the tone of the text and does not add any flash or glitz to the show. The actors wear black suits, the set consists of three stools on a black stage with a white backdrop. There are no interesting lighting or sound effects, save one explosion. It keeps things less-than-thrilling, but adding anything to it would have felt forced.
“Copenhagen” is a great play. Okay, it’s a long play about physics, but it is worth it. I would give it four of six stars.
The writing in this show is brilliant. It's no wonder it won a Tony award. That being said it's got to be a hard show to direct and perform. The director has to create something out of nothing, and the actors must seem to understand fairly conceptual theory's of modern physics.
What amazed me about this production is how it kept my attention without any fancy staging. The only movement that seemed forced to me was once when Hisenburg was crossing back and forth from one side of the stage to the other while explaining the paths subatomic particles take.
Also the actors all appeared to know what they were talking about, even if perhaps they didn't. The actors and dramaturg obviously spent some time on research.
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