Reading of ‘Copenhagen’ at Byrdcliffe Theatre
A reading of the play “Copenhagen,” an explosive confrontation between science and politics that explores the individual’s ability to change the course of world events, will be performed Friday and Saturday, Aug. 18 and 19, at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, Aug. 20, at 2 p.m. at Byrdcliffe Theatre, 380 Upper Byrdcliffe Road, Woodstock.
“Copenhagen” is a Rhinebeck Theatre Society production.
It’s hard to imagine that a play in which three dead people discuss atomic physics could be electrifying and intensely emotional. Yet this riveting drama, full of crackle and vitality, delivers a literary and theatrical punch that stays with audiences long after the curtain has fallen.
On the surface, “Copenhagen” turns around a mysterious 1941 meeting between the esteemed Danish physicist Niels Bohr and his former pupil, the German scientist Werner Heisenberg. Old friends who had revolutionized atomic science during the 1920s, they are now on opposite sides of a world war. But the science, it turns out, is merely a vehicle, a metaphor for a wrenching probe into deeply human quandaries and contradictions.
“Copenhagen takes us to the boundaries of human understanding, questioning what, if anything, we can ever know,” said director Ellen Honig in a press release. “It delves into the totally contemporary issue of whether an individual can make a difference in a world undergoing momentous upheaval.”
The reading features David Smilow as Heisenberg, Andrew Joffe as Bohr and Christina Reeves as Bohr’s wife, Margareta.
Tickets for the reading are $26, $24 for students and senior citizens. Call the box office at (800) 8383006, ext. 1, or visit rhinebecktheatresociety.com for tickets or more information.
Along with this weekend’s reading, a full production of “Copenhagen” will be presented at The Center for Performing Arts at Rhinebeck, 661 Route 308, Rhinebeck, on Friday and Saturday, Sept. 22 and 23, at 8 p.m., and Sunday, Sept. 24, at 3 p.m. Call the box office at (845) 876-3080 or visit centerforperformingarts.org for tickets and more information about those performances.