March 16th, 2005

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The Arts
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Copenhagen

Copenhagen is a play by Michael Frayn currently running at the Vancouver Playhouse. Before all you non-theatre-goers skip this entry, bear with me. First, read this summary:

In 1941, German physicist Werner Heisenberg traveled to Nazi occupied Denmark to meet with his Jewish mentor Niels Bohr. What occurred between the two titans of modern physics forms the central mystery of this Tony Award-winning play. When Bohr, his wife Margrethe and Heisenberg meet in a theoretical after-life to re-enact and interpret that long ago encounter, memory and perception collide in this unforgettable play.

I saw Copenhagen at Project in Dublin, and it blew my mind. It immediately made my Top Five Plays of All Time list (my desert island plays, if you will). It’s not an easy play to watch–it’s text is dense and challenging, and it’s not exactly action-packed–but it’s a truly wonderful script. I love plays with big ideas, and I love plays concerned with science, so this play hit both sweet spots.

I haven’t seen the Vancouver production, but I’ve got tickets for next week. The Georgia Straight gave it a decidedly mixed review, so I can’t unilaterally recommend the production. However, if you’re a bit geeky, and never go to the theatre because you think it’s tedious or irrelevant to your life, I think you’d enjoy Copenhagen.

Comments: 4 Responses so far

'nee
March 16th, 2005
1:19 pm

The building I work in hosted a production of Copenhagen, and I really enjoyed it (but found that the second act was a little bit unfocussed.)

It’s definitely something geeks would enoy: you don’t have to know the science, but it makes you feel smarter if you understand the shape of what they’re talking about.

It is “action-packed” — at least, for a play. There is tense drama in the conflict between two very strong-willed men, Bohr being Jewish and Heisenberg working for the Germans.

Act Two gets a bit scattered when we’re trying to figure out Heisenberg’s motives: his need to claim that he COULD HAVE come up with the atomic bomb, versus his need to convince Bohr that he really had been working against it. There’s some evidence that he had missed something that could have led him right to it. Or not. Did he miss it on purpose, or by accident?

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Java
March 16th, 2005
10:15 pm

Has the Straight ever given anything a good review? Still, would like to see that.

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Joseph Planta
March 17th, 2005
12:03 am

Yeah, went opening night, and was blown away (forgive the pun) by the show. I’m not a play person when I go to the theatre (am partial to musicals), but I thought Brent Carver was great. It was thought-provoking, and quite remarkable. Incidentially, I tried booking Brent Carver for an interview, but the Playhouse publicist said that he’s not doing media anymore, simply because doing the show 8-times a week is exhausting enough. When you see the show, you’ll understand why–he’s good.

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'nee
March 17th, 2005
8:45 pm

Yah, unfortunately one of the guys when I saw it subscribed to the “shouting for dramatic effect” school of drama, which lessened the experience a bit :)

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