“Copenhagen” holds audience interest through nuclear fission, quantum mechanics, and the uncertainty principle
Master Arts Theatre’s production of the story built around the tensions of creating an atomic bomb in 1941 breathes humanity around questions of well-intentioned deeds having drastic, unintended consequences.
Although “Cophenhagen” is not an easy work to bring to the stage, Master Arts Theatre’s production breathes some humanity into Michael Frayn’s play of ideas revolving around the 1941 meeting between physicists Neils Bohr and Werner Heisenberg.
One of the main challenges of Frayn’s talky script is making long discussions on physics and the building of the atomic bomb intelligible and interesting for an audience. By the end of Friday evening’s performance, it appeared that the attentive theatregoers present in the small converted church south of Grand Rapids had little problem following the science behind nuclear fission, Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle and the basics of quantum mechanics.
The credit for this goes to the trio of cast members who have a talent for talking with one another and for supportive listening. James Quatrine, as Heisenberg, is vocally and physically animated in his explanation of what he knew about the possibilities of making nuclear weapons for the Nazis in his homeland. He’s emphatic in his defense of what he did and did not share with those in charge of the German war machine.
Bob Karel, as Neils Bohr, remains reserved and conversational, but conveys the gravity of the situation through his measured and polite response to Heisenberg’s intrusive presence in his Danish home.
After an initial display of mandatory hospitality, Colleen Thompson, as Bohr’s wife Margrethe, probes her German guest with searching and sometimes accusatory questions regarding his mission and the purpose of his visit to their occupied country.
All three actors present characters who choose their words carefully and guard what they say against possible eavesdropping by the SS and the revelation of too much information before those present in the room. As they do so, they drop hints about what is at stake for one another and for the world. This walking on egg shells is important, for that tension is the glue that holds our attention throughout.
Bohr and Heisenberg take long walks through the streets of Copenhagen, inviting our speculation that secrets or clues might be shared about progress on nuclear weapons by Germany or the U.S.
Another challenge for presenting “Copenhagen” are the numerous shifts of the action back and forth in time. Early on it dawns on us that Frayn’s characters are, in fact, recalling their memories from the afterlife.
In director Pris McDonald’s competent production, actors move seamlessly across time and space, never losing their place or forgetting their situation, whether narrating incidents from their lives or conversing with one another in the present about the now famous meeting in 1941.
A few of McDonald’s stage pictures over-linger and seem static on the theatre’s linear playing space, but the focus is consistently on the speaker and the eye of the beholder never grows weary. Some of the actors’ physical mannerisms such as arm folding, eye rolling, or putting hand to temple occasionally get in the way, although these are minor distractions. The good news with this cast is that it always comes through where it counts: in making sense of Frayn’s dialogue and extended conversations.
Despite the rambling recollections and flawed memories of characters who disagree on the details of who knew what and when, the play and the production succeed in framing a number of intriguing and perplexing life mysteries for Heisenberg, the Bohrs, and for viewers.
In addition to the central riddle of why Heisenberg visited Copenhagen in 1941, Frayn evokes one of the most important questions of the past 100 years: what is the responsibility of the scientist in the nuclear age? In doing so, Frayn is in the company of other playwrights who tread similar ground, such as Bertolt Brecht with “Galileo” and Lanford Wilson with “Rain Dance.”
The questions that resonate most for an audience include who will judge our actions, how we will justify them, and how we can be certain that our well-intentioned deeds in the present will not have drastic, unintended consequences in the future.
The latter dovetails neatly with Heisenberg’s uncertainty principle, a basis for much of quantum physics that reminds us that there is a limit to how precisely we can measure, and therefore know, an object. By the end of the evening, this very uncertainty seems applicable to more than mere objects and atomic particles.
“Copenhagen”
Written by Michael Frayn
Master Arts Theatre
June 7–23
Tickets $15–17
Purchase tickets online.
