On Nov. 19, Benjamin McRae took over Perisphere Theater’s Instagram account to share a day in the life of an actor as he prepares to play Werner Heisenberg in Copenhagen. Here are a few of his posts: I do crossword puzzles in pen. Also blocking notes. #badideas #CopenhagenPlayDC #actorlife A photo Read more…
Margrethe Bohr in Copenhagen is a grounding force for the two men, her husband Niels and Werner Heisenberg (Niels’s colleague and protegé). A description from MIT of her role in this play says that she functions as a Greek chorus to help the audience understand the physics, but also embodies the feminine Read more…
Actor John Decker shares his thoughts about playing the Nobel prize-winning physicist Niels Bohr and what he hopes audiences will take away from Perisphere Theater’s production of Copenhagen.
The historical and scientific implications of the play Copenhagen have been debated. Many historians have weighed in since the production first opened on how they view the accuracy of the characters’ statements and the motivations that Frayn has given them (both researched and imagined). Frayn himself issued a postscript after the London Read more…
In Act One of Copenhagen, the characters make a joking reference to “Schrödinger’s cat.” This cat is not Schrödinger’s pet kitty, but the subject of a famous thought experiment that has become the basis for many a physics joke over the years. In 1935, Austrian physicist Erwin Schrödinger used this paradox to object to what he Read more…
“Decisions make themselves when you’re coming downhill at seventy kilometers an hour. Suddenly there’s the edge of nothingness in front of you. Swerve left? Swerve right? Or think about it and die?” –Werner Heisenberg, Copenhagen, Act One I first read Copenhagen in 2001, finding a copy in the new arrivals Read more…