In concert with our main stage production of NOISES OFF, the comic masterpiece written by the acclaimed playwright Michael Frayn, Actors Ensemble presents a series of staged readings, featuring other works by the same playwright. On consecutive Tuesday nights starting July 31st we will be presenting THE TWO OF US, BENEFACTORS, and COPENHAGEN.
The Tony-Award winning COPENHAGEN (1998) represents the later stage of Frayn's career, and explores the historic meeting between the physicists Werner Heisgenberg and Niels Bohr (accompanied by his wife Margrethe Bohr) in Copenhagen in 1941. In the meeting, the two physicists danced around the possibilities of nuclear weapons, their possible development and use in the war, and the moral consequences of possibly working on them. The meeting is only remembered differently by the three particpants, and in part was a sparring match where each tried to determine what the other knew, without admitting to anything directly. The play is of intense interest both for its historical content (the memoirs of the participants were used to reconstruct the events), but also for its investigation of the art of drama in a setting full of tension, but where there are no winners or losers, and in fact a dramatic resolution would have to wait until the events of 1945. Directed by Bruce Coughran, who recently directed our musical A HOT DAY IN EPHESUS, and explored moral dilemmas of a similarly complex nature in our production of Anouilh's ANTIGONE in 2010. Plays Tuesday August 14th at 8 p.m. $5-$10 suggested donation. Cash or check only at the door.
Featuring plays spanning the entire length of Frayn's career, our staged reading series provides a comprehensive picture of Frayn's demonstrated excellence in both highly comic and intensely dramatic works. All performances at the cozy 137-seat Live Oak Theatre in north Berkeley, just down the street from Berkeley's "Gourmet Ghetto". Wheelchair accessible - use the north side entrance.
