Fernando Valdivia - Times Herald-Record

March, 2004

Wonderful 'Copenhagen' in New Paltz

If you go...

What: Copenhagen

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

When: 8 PM March 25-27

Admission: $10

Call: 255-3102

The Readers Theatre Group of the Mohonk Mountain Stage Company inaugurates its 2004 season with Michael Frayn's "Copenhagen." The Tony-winning drama explores the scientific, political and moral ramifications of a historic meeting in 1941 between two brilliant physicists, Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg. As directed by Robert G. Miller, the three-member cast captures and holds the audiences attention through two acts of compelling "Rashomon"-like review of what transpired during a conversation between Bohr and Heisenberg, which lasted a mere 10 minutes.

The historical fact upon which the fictionalized drama is based is that in September 1941, Werner Heisenberg went to Copenhagen to deliver a lecture; afterward, he visited his friend and mentor, Niels Bohr, and Bohr's wife, Margrethe. After the dinner, the two men took a walk so as not to be overheard by any bugging device the Nazis may have installed in the Bohr's house. There is no record of what was actually said before Bohr abruptly ended the conversation, and the two later gave conflicting accounts of that brief encounter.

What Frayn has done is to extrapolate, both from the background of their collaborative research in physics and their divided loyalties during World War II, a posthumous reconciliation of sorts during which the three characters compare their individual and conflicting recollections regarding their actions, motivations and innermost thoughts.

In the Readers Theatre Group performance at St. Andrew's Church in New Paltz, William Connors as Niels, Christine Crawfis as Margrethe and Sean Marrinan as Werner Heisenberg are all excellent. Their skill in portraying the interaction of three very complex individuals as well as their ability to articulate the fundamentals of nuclear physics to a lay audience is rather remarkable. I actually felt as if I understood what they were saying about quantum mechanics, the uncertainty principle, waves and particles and nuclear fission.

Fortunately, we weren't tested after the performance.