Matt Barbero – Walkill Valley Times

March, 2004

A Moving Moment in Historical Speculation

What: The Mohonk Mountain Stage Company's Production of Copenhagen

When: Saturday: March 20-8:00 PM

Thursday: March 25-8:00 PM

Friday: March 26-8:00 PM

Saturday: March 27-8:00 PM

Where: St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church at 163 Main St. in New Paltz

Price: $10.00; $5.00 w/valid student I.D.

Contact: 255-3102

The name of the play is Copenhagen. Unlike Chicago, this play named after a city is definitely not a musical. For those of us who enjoy studying history, this show is a serious look at the development of the first nuclear bomb. With the race for development of nuclear arsenals raging in both Germany and the United States, many nuclear physicists throughout Europe faced the question of which side to take. Much like the war between the North and South, this moral dilemma pitted many colleagues throughout Europe against one another.

This play performed in readers' format, is set in the parlor of Niels and Margrethe Bohr (played by Bill Connors and Christine Crawfis, respectively), a couple living in Copenhagen, Denmark. When Bohr's former protégé German physicist Werner Heisenberg (played by Sean Marrinan) comes to visit, we envision a heartwarming reunion of two great minds who haven't seen one another in fourteen years. Well, this would have been the case if it hadn't been for the fact that it was 1941. In the midst of the Nazi occupation of Denmark you might imagine that Bohr, the half Jewish physicist, was not a warm host to this imposing guest.

As the play continues and the characters warm up to one another, they begin to discuss the history and moral questions behind the development of nuclear physics. Throughout their initial meeting Margrethe often takes on the part of narrator. When acting as a character within the dialogue, an instigator who provokes Heisenberg on the question of Nazi Germany's conquest of Europe.

With the first act being based almost entirely on speculation as to what the characters had discussed on that autumn evening, the second act brings our characters together in a post-mortem retrospective view of what took place after their meeting. The question at hand is what impact did the discussion that these two physicists had in 1941have on the development of the first nuclear bomb? It is quite possible that the information shared on that evening was the cornerstone for not only nuclear physics in the 1940's, but throughout the next fifty years of cold war policies.

The great moral debate of the second act is not that of the Allied or Axis powers, but Heisenberg's and Bohr's roles in nuclear deployment. Heisenberg, initially seen as a German scientist who could have possibly put the first atomic bomb in the hands of Hitler, is presented in the second act as one who risked his life to assist 8,000 Jews (Niels and Margrethe included) in escaping Copenhagen prior to the German roundup in 1943. Bohr, on the other hand, the injured mentor to Heisenberg in the first act, is depicted in the second act as a key component in the Manhattan Project's development of the bombs dropped on Japan later in the war. In the heat of this discussion, Margrethe continues to defend her husband's role in killing 100,000's in Japan, while Heisenberg had not killed anyone.

Once again, for those of us who enjoy studying history, this play is a great moral debate. Our hosts at the Mohonk Mountain Stage Company provide a warm and intimate setting in which to view this show. Directed by Robert Miller, this production of Copenhagen is well presented in the basement of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church. The actors have a great feel for the characters as they have researched their parts not only in studying the script, but in the historical context of the events that took place. I would recommend Copenhagen to anyone interested in serious theatre.