Through September 28, 2008
Reviewed by Andrea Braun
Most lay people probably hadn't given much thought to nuclear warfare until "Give ‘Em Hell Harry" gave ‘em precisely that at Hiroshima and Nagasaki to end the war in the Pacific in 1945. The Enola Gay struck Hiroshima first, and its payload made the crash heard ‘round the world. For most of the rest of the 20th century, the U.S. played nuclear chicken with the U.S.S.R. The Bear was declawed in 1989, but we are still haunted by the potential for destruction if the "bomb" were in the wrong hands. And we continually wonder, "Is it?" This country is in a war right now due to being misled about Iraq's possession of so-called "weapons of mass destruction." But who were those who created the monster in the first place? Michael Frayn's Copenhagen introduces us to two of the major players and sets off a series of dramatic explosions that rock the house.
Niels Bohr, eminent Danish physicist, and his wife, Margrethe (KDHX's Chuck Lavazzi and Liz Hopefl) appear to be a prosperous and affectionate long-married couple preparing to welcome an old friend who was a protégé, then a peer of Niels', Werner Heisenberg (Matt Hanify). The Bohrs chat about the imminent visit and the not-incidental fact that all three of them are now dead. But these are some lively corpses. When Heisenberg arrives, it takes only a few moments for the men to re-engage in one of their epic disagreements, and Heisenberg promptly leaves. Or does he?
The play recreates three versions of a visit from Heisenberg to Copenhagen in 1941. At each, the characters also discuss two other times they were together: In the 1920s when Heisenberg came to Denmark to study with Bohr and in 1947, hat in hand, after his beloved Germany suffered its second humiliating defeat of the century. Three people, three meetings, three separate memories of what happened on each of these occasions. The truth must lie somewhere, or must it? And so, we proceed through the deconstruction of destruction.
Margrethe Bohr represents the audience. The scientists are trying to explain themselves, their motives and their work in terms that "Margrethe can understand." But Margrethe understands quite a lot from years of typing draft after draft of her husband's theories to the point of exhaustion, while also bearing and rearing six children, two of whom predeceased their parents. The boating accident that claimed the life of their eldest, Christian, is a leitmotif. Niels Bohr emigrated to the U.S. after having to flee Denmark because he was half Jewish and subsequently worked on the project at Los Alamos. Just as he feels responsible for his son's death, he believes he bears some responsibility for 100,000 other deaths in Japan. Does he? Heisenberg worked for the Nazis. He possessed the tools to create an atomic bomb, but he did not. Why?
Question after question arises, answers are posited and discarded, and Margrethe filters the information. At one point, she states unequivocally: "From these two heads the future will emerge." Bohr is focused on theoretical physics; Heisenberg on practical applications (the Nazi preference). However, the younger man wasn't always so concerned with results. Within one year of his appointment in Copenhagen, he had invented quantum mathematics and soon returned to Leipzig to become the youngest full professor at a major university in Europe. He is a theorist, but also a careerist. Bohr seems the more pure of the two, the man who lives and breathes the connections he finds in the physical world. It falls to Margrethe to gently and repeatedly guide science back to humanism.
The connections and convolutions are stunning, and the play is a tour de force for all involved. Lavazzi is first-rate and completely believable as Bohr. He speaks "physics" like it's his mother tongue. (These lines are hard!) Hopefl is one of the best character actors in town, and she is fine here. The "new kid," Hanify, shouldn't have to scramble for parts after this performance, though his concentration seemed to lapse a couple of times. Still, these three make a remarkable ensemble.
Director Lynn Rathbone's set is a comfortable, antique-filled sitting room with a round area rug which defines the playing space and works as a prop. Theatre in the round has always seemed artificial to me, but not here. The rug allows the men to pace naturally, and to face different parts of the room. Margrethe's movements are more restrained, but I'd bet much of the audience wouldn't think that her back was to them very often. The house lights remain up throughout the play so the audience becomes the students in the lecture hall. The actors make eye contact with us to emphasize their points and engage our support. We cannot look away or not pay attention because we are literally "in" the action. In a larger theater, audience members are recruited to "play" the seminar attendees on stage. I like the inclusiveness the small space at Union Avenue dictates. Anthony Anselmo receives credit for the lighting design. Russell J. Bettlach's costumes are just right for each character, though Hopefl's wig looks artificial.
Rathbone's vision transforms a church basement into a place where art is made and consumed so that theatre becomes what it is supposed to be: A collaboration between actors and audience. The electricity is powerful (well, actually the collision of atoms which starts the chain reaction that creates the electrical impulse. . .).
Do not avoid Copenhagen because you think it will be dull. Yes, there are technical discussions but these moments never really take us far from the human connection, to life, to death, and to the future of the universe. Big stuff. And Margrethe will help you if you get stuck. This is one of the best productions of 2008, and the play itself has been much honored, including winning the Tony Award. Don't miss it.
Copenhagen is at the West End Player's Guild at Union Avenue Christian Church, 733 N. Union, through Sept. 28. Call 314-357-0025 or visit online at http://www.westendplayers.org/.
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