U.S. premiere of Michael Frayn play Copenhagen set for bench reading at Dartmouth Jan. 23

Posted 01/19/00

Could Nazi Germany have won the race to build an atom bomb? Or were Nazi scientists purposely stalling the progress of German nuclear technology to prevent the creation of such a terrible weapon?

British author Michael Frayn explores how history unfolded -- and how things might have been different had the Nazis beaten the Allies in creation of nuclear weapons -- in his award-winning play, Copenhagen, which makes its American debut in a bench reading at Dartmouth College at 1:30 p.m. Sunday, Jan. 23. The event, which will be in 105 Dartmouth Hall, is free and open to the public.

Described by The London Evening Standard as "at once an historical detective story, a lecture in morality and a lesson in advanced nuclear physics," Copenhagen recalls a 1941 meeting between Nazi Germany's top physicist, Werner Heisenberg, and renowned atomic scientist Neils Bohr in occupied Copenhagen. Bohr, who backed the Allied forces against Germany, was Heisenberg's former teacher -- and half Jewish. In tense and swiftly moving dialogue, the pair investigate the intersection of science, morality and ego. They are joined by Bohr's wife, Margrethe, who reminds the scientists that individual choices have consequences far beyond the laboratory.

Copenhagen received the 1998 Evening Standard and Critics' Circle awards for Best New Play. It is tentatively scheduled to open in New York later this year.

Playwright Frayn is a former journalist who has three times received The London Evening Standard Best Comedy of the Year award for his plays Alphabetical Order (1975), Make and Break (1980) and Noises Off (1982). His play Benefactors was named Best Play of the Year in 1984. Frayn is also known for his authoritative translations of Chekhov's plays, including The Cherry Orchard and Three Sisters. His other writings include eight novels and several screenplays and television scripts.

Directed by Peter Saccio, the Dartmouth production of Copenhagen will feature faculty and staff members Laurence Davies, James Heffernan and Cornelia Wallin.

The reading of Copenhagen will be followed by a panel discussion about development of the atom bomb. Panelists will include nuclear physicist Jochen Heisenberg, son of Werner Heisenberg and a professor at the University of New Hampshire; Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Thomas Powers, author of the highly acclaimed Heisenberg's War: The Secret History of the German Bomb (1993), which largely inspired Frayn's play; Emeritus Professor of Chemistry Walter Stockmeyer, who worked at MIT with Niels Bohr before coming to Dartmouth in 1961; Marcia Groszek, Professor of Mathematics, who co-teaches integrated courses in mathematics and physics; and Dartmouth graduate David Kaiser, a theoretical physicist who has written about Niel Bohr's contributions to quantam mechanics.

The bench reading is sponsored by Dartmouth's Math Across the Curriculum project. For further information, contact James Heffernan, Professor of English, at (603) 646-2320.