This true-life historical drama centres on the interactions of some key
scientists (notably J Robert Oppenheimer himself) interacting with their
colleagues, the military, their romantic attachments and their own consciences
against the backdrop of what by any standards was one the most fearful things
ever to confront mankind. What more could be asked for as pointers for drama?
‘Oppenheimer’ is a
period play set in another country and the MST went to considerable lengths to
bring over the world of 1940’s America, with an excellent array of period
costumes and a notable collection of furniture from time. It was good to see
(from a drama perspective) that not only were many of the cast smoking
regularly but actually emitting smoke as a pointer of realism of the time when
the play was set. The only drawback to all this was that certain male actors
had long hair tied up in buns which, even allowing the usual suspension of
disbelief, detracted from an otherwise very authentic presentation.
The acting was
excellent across the cast with everyone convincingly acting beyond their young
ages. The accents were consistent throughout with some notably effective scenes
of disciplined military confrontations alongside social settings and personal
confrontations. Tommy Beswick was well cast as the tall, charismatic scientist,
in a part which included some tense monologues alongside many varied
interactions, including the absurdity of Oppenheimer and other academic
scientists being give senior military ranks, requiring them to try to act
accordingly, in uniform. The cosmopolitan nature of the scientists allowed for
some interesting characterisations, notably Reuben Gotts as Teller, a
hard-faced Hungarian and Joshua Bird as Bethe, a very emotive German. Harvey
Weedon was excellent as the nerdy academic Serber and Kelsey Ann Moebius showed
great versatility as unstable Jean Tatlock. Kai Ross presented a dynamic
picture of the hard-nosed, army officer Groves (sporting a realistic crew cut-cut!).
Space does permit comment on every role, with several actors playing more than
one part suffice to say that this production gelled with even some small roles
being very memorable, notably Helena Braithwaite’s convincing ‘little boy’ in
stark contrast to playing other female parts.
The staging was
particularly imaginative with the entire stage floor being a blackboard onto
which the scientists were literally drawing the academic theory of atomic power.
This device meant that all the action took on the science providing the
backdrop to the story. There were some nice dramatic touches such as straight after the
successful explosion of the bomb in a desert, thus guaranteeing the deaths of
tens of thousands, a party scene erupted with tinsel falling from the ceiling,
echoing atomic fallout. Another memorable image was the scientists lying on the
floor in darkness wearing eye protection as a bright flash of light and string
sound effects powerfully bringing over the first detonation of a nuclear bomb.
This production
required a lot of slick choreography, with scenes quickly changing from the crowd
scenes involving most of the cast to two-person exchanges, whilst a lot of
furniture and props brought on and off stage with no time out for scene
changes. Altogether, a fine production, ably directed by James Nickerson of a
complex play that never flagged over its two and a half hour duration. The
complex nature of the varied relationships alongside the wider issues of war
and morality were ably weaved together by writer Tom Morton Smith making this
an excellent piece of theatre.
Reviewer - John Waterhouse
on - 25.11.22
No comments:
Post a Comment