In a devastatingly intimate production at Cygnet Theatre, Michael Frayn’s 2000 Tony Award-winning play, “Copenhagen,” is a must-see. Award-winning actors Jim Chovick, Joshua Everett Johnson and Rosina Reynolds are exceptionally well staged by George Ye. A finer, tighter and more reactive ensemble cannot be imagined. Sadly, the play is more poignant and timely than ever.
The action takes place in German-occupied Copenhagen in 1941 and concerns a meeting between two nuclear physicists, Niels Bohr (Chovick), a half-Jewish Dane, and his brilliant former student, a German named Werner Heisenberg (Johnson). There’s lots of shoptalk, of course. We are meant to suspect that each man is trying to pry secrets from the other regarding development of nuclear weapons, namely the atomic bomb. But the playwright relates the nitty-gritty of fission, reactors and physics in lay terms, purportedly because Niels’ brilliant wife Margarethe Bohr (Reynolds), who typed all her husband’s notes, may need help understanding.
When all the possible reasons for the meeting have been explored by the characters, who admit they are dead and gone, the entire scientific and socio-political enquiry boils down to the touching and human. It’s a brilliant piece of writing on the part of a most important contemporary playwright.
The viewer first saw the play at New York’s Royale Theatre (with Blair Brown, Michael Crumpsty and Philip Bosco); however, the intimacy of Cygnet and the excellence of this company bring the work home on a level never before experienced.
Reynolds is marvelously wry, sarcastic and doubtful as Margarethe. Knowing the Nazis have bugged Bohr’s house, the two scientists go for a walk, argue and return. Johnson, who’s been seen in a variety of roles locally, outdoes himself in this performance as the clean-cut, ostensibly sincere Heisenberg, who may or may not have been effective in Bohr’s escape from Denmark prior to the rounding up of all the Jews. Johnson’s hairstyle, his bearing and his clipped way of speaking are most convincing. Chovick, too, gives his finest performance to date, though the word “nuclear” does not fall trippingly off his tongue. He’s not alone in this. Even the guy in charge of this nation has given up trying to pronounce it properly.
Having recently returned from Great Britain, where “Copenhagen” originated at the Royal National Theatre in 1998, it is gratifying to note that San Diego actors and this remarkable production are on a par with the best the world has to offer.
Artistic director Sean Murray’s set, Eric Lotze’s lighting, Jeanne Reith’s costumes and Ye’s sound contribute mightily to the production of this important play. Apparently, audiences agree. There was good attendance and a vociferous response on Saturday, Sept. 2, remarkable for Labor Day weekend.
“Copenhagen” continues at 8 p.m. Thursday through Saturday, and 2 and 7 p.m. Sunday, through Sept. 24 at 6663 El Cajon Blvd. Tickets ($25-$29) are available at www.cygnettheatre.com or by calling (619) 337-1525, ext 3.
