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ARTicles vol. 6 i.2b: Welcome to the Fifth Production of the A.R.T.’s 2007-2008 Season
JAN 1, 2008
Gideon Lester explains the relevance of Copenhagen to our current economic, political, and social climate. He also describes the subtext of the play which is deep-seated with questions about personal responsibility and the catastrophic effect a few people’s decisions can have on the whole world.
Dear Friends,
Welcome to the fifth production of the A.R.T.’s 2007-08 season: Michael Frayn’s Copenhagen, directed by Scott Zigler.
One of the pleasures of live theater is that it allows us to observe how a great play changes its meaning over time. Michael Frayn wrote Copenhagen ten years ago — in a very different historical moment. In the ensuing decade the world has transformed, and Frayn’s imaginative account of Heisenberg and Bohr’s meeting, and the race to invent the nuclear bomb, resonates in new and unexpected ways today. In 1998, when the play premiered at Britain’s National Theatre, London was a place of exuberant optimism, affluence, and relative security. Clearly we now see the play in an altered context.
Beyond its themes of history, science, and politics, Copenhagen asks profound questions about personal responsibility and the catastrophic effect a few people’s decisions can have on the whole world. It is also a play about uncertainty and enigma, which asks over and again: what really happened? What should we believe? How can we be certain what is true? And ultimately it is a deeply personal play, centered on the relationship between two men and a woman, whose private lives and desires intersect at a moment that determines the future course of humanity.
Gideon Lester
Acting Artistic Director
