The East End of Central Square is almost entirely MIT-occupied territory, and nowhere is that more apparent than the Central Square Theater, whose Nora Theatre Company happens to specialize in science nonfiction.
Last year the hardtrundling staff noted the Nora’s production of Photograph 51, described at the CST website this way:
In 1951, British biophysicist Rosalind Franklin became a research associate at King’s College in London, where her X-ray imaging revealed DNA’s double helix structure, leading to the Nobel Prize for Francis Crick, James Dewey Watson, and Maurice Wilkins. As told with wit and urgency by a chorus of scientists who relive the competitive chase to be the first to map the DNA molecule, Photograph 51 is the story of the fiercely independent spirit of a young, ambitious scientist and her unsung, trailblazing achievements.
Last night the hardworking staff (and the Missus!) trundled over to Central Square to catch the Nora’s latest production, Operation Epsilon.
Again from the CST website:
It’s the close of World War II – the dawn of the atomic age. The Allies have captured Germany’s top ten nuclear scientists and sequestered them at Farm Hall– a lavish estate in England – keeping them under surveillance to learn what they know about the American nuclear program and to gauge how close the Nazis are to making an atomic bomb. Nine of these men, including Nobel Prize winners Otto Hahn and Werner Heisenberg, are known as Hitler’s “Uranium Club.” Based on actual transcripts of secretly recorded conversations, playwright Alan Brody illuminates the ethical complexity of pursuing scientific discovery at the risk of wreaking catastrophic consequences.
It’s a terrific production, with smart staging and an estimable cast.
Catch it if you can.
