Copenhagen at Berkshire Theatre: a Play About Humanity with a Touch of Science

Michael Frayn’s Copenhagen takes place in the minds of three long dead persons, as it is explained when the three characters enter the stark black stage with only three white wooden chairs as set and props. The audience, as much as the characters themselves, are told at the onset that we are watching a play about ghosts, long deceased, discussing an event that occurred in Copenhagen in 1941. We are also told that because the characters are long dead, no one can be betrayed, and no one can be hurt. 

The play is about a meeting held in Nazi-occupied Denmark in 1941 between Danish physicist Niels Bohr and his protege, German physicist Werner Heisenberg. The third member of the party is Bohr’s wife, Margrethe, his confidant, with whom he often bounced off ideas and discussed his work. Most interesting is the fact that both Bohr and Heisenberg are perhaps two of the top three or four most brilliant physicists of the 20^th century.  The play is based on actual events that occurred one evening in Denmark when the two meet up. It is the discussion that ensued between the two scientists while they took a stroll that evening that is the basis for the play. Over the years, their actual interpretation of what went on differed; this is the opportunity to, perhaps, get to the truth.

Many may think, what’s the big deal, two old friends, teacher and student, reunite for a brief moment in time? What could be so enthralling? If you examine the time the Nazis have taken Denmark, Bohr happens to be half-Jewish and has centered his career on understanding atomic structure and quantum theory.  Heisenberg is working for Hitler and has perhaps come to see what information he can glean from his former teacher on the work he is conducting and is the enemy, getting close to the viability of an atomic bomb.

The obvious mindset is with all the talk of quantum mechanics, quantum theory, atom splitting, and the like, it should be very dry and over the heads of most who are not in the field.  Oftentimes throughout the play, Margrethe does admonish the men to use Plain Language… not only for her sanity but as she occasionally looks to the audience, for the rest of us more simple folk.

As much as the play is about science, it is about so much more. It is about humanity, love for a teacher, a teacher’s love and in spite of himself, I think, his admiration for how far his pupil has come. Bhor can be self-absorbed, perhaps himself the center of the universe at some moments in time. Heisenberg can be insistent, argumentative and ever respectful of the importance of the man before him. And Margrethe is the consoling wife, doting mother image and peacemaker, helping to make each one attempt to see the other’s perspective. 

Director Eric Hill moves his characters fluidly as ghosts, allowing them to speak with the ability of hindsight when they so choose, jumping through time in, as Frayn explains, a nonlinear manner. They address the audience as well as one another. They finish one’s sentences and thoughts.  Hill has his characters beautifully choreographed as in a dance. Isadore Wolfe worked with the characters as a Movement Director so that every step appears effortless, yet pragmatically necessary and never without a purpose or reason.

The three performers, David Adkins as Bhor, Harry Smith as Heisenberg and Corinna May as Margrethe are transfixing on stage. The three work off one another like a perfectly orchestrated symphony, or in this case as one atom bouncing off another in the space continuum. Adkins, no stranger to the Berkshire stage, gives a nuanced performance that ebbs and flows with a certain lyricism. Smith’s Heisenberg is at times frustrated by Bhor’s recollections, still holding him in such reverence, respect and love. May is the ideal peacemaker, at times narrator, often times referee. Together, the three present flawless, captivating performances. 

Copenhagen is not a play about science at its nadir but rather a play about humanity, concern, respect and admiration. Hill has put together an ideal, captivating production. And in the end, you may also learn something about physics as well.

Copenhagen is at the Berkshire Theatre Group’s Unicorn Theatre in Stockbridge, MA, through October 29. For ticket information, www.berkshiretheatregroup.org or call the box office: 413-997-4444.