Copenhagen

by Michael Frayn

Overview

TONY AWARD WINNER • An explosive re-imagining of the mysterious wartime meeting between two Nobel laureates to discuss the atomic bomb.

“Endlessly fascinating…. The most invigorating and ingenious play of ideas in many a year….  An electrifying work of art.” —Ben Brantley, The New York Times

In 1941 the German physicist Werner Heisenberg made a clandestine trip to Copenhagen to see his Danish counterpart and friend Niels Bohr. Their work together on quantum mechanics and the uncertainty principle had revolutionized atomic physics. But now the world had changed and the two men were on opposite sides in a world war. Why Heisenberg went to Copenhagen and what he wanted to say to Bohr are questions that have vexed historians ever since. In Michael Frayn’s ambitious, fiercely intelligent, and daring new play Heisenberg and Bohr meet once again to discuss the intricacies of physics and to ponder the metaphysical—the very essence of human motivation.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780307433060
Publisher:	Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group
Publication date:	08/04/2010
Sold by:	Random House
Format:	eBook
Pages:	144
Sales rank:	269,487
File size:	2 MB

About the Author

Michael Frayn has written plays, novels, and screenplays, in additioin to being a journalist, documentary filmmaker, and translator of Chekhov. His thirteen plays include Copenhagen, which was awarded the Tony Award for Best Play, as well as the Outer Critics Circle and Drama Desk awards and, in the United Kingdom, the Olivier and Evening Standard awards. His novel Headlong was shortlisted for the Booker Prize. His most recent novel, Spies, was published in 2002. Born in London in 1933 and educated at Cambridge, Frayn is married to the biographer and critic Claire Tomalin; they live in London.

What People are Saying About This

John Peter

"Michael Frayn's tremendous new play is a piece of history, an intellectual thriller, a psychological investigation and a moral tribunal in full session."

-- Sunday Times

Editorial Reviews

A piece of history, an intellectual thriller, a psychological investigation and a moral tribunal in full session.” —Sunday Times of London

“Probably the best play about science ever written in English drama. Forget the physics. The greatest experiment...is the dramatic form itself.” —The Guardian

“Frayn has seized on a real-life historical and scientific mystery. In 1941 the physicist Werner Heisenberg, who formulated the famous Uncertainty Principle about the movement of particles, and was at that time leading the Nazi's nuclear programme, went to visit his old boss and mentor, Niels Bohr, in Copenhagen. What was the purpose of his visit to Nazi-occupied Denmark? What did the two old friends say to each other, particularly bearing in mind that Bohr was both half-Jewish and a Danish patriot?... Frayn argues that just as it is impossible to be certain of the precise location of an electron, so it is impossible to be certain about the workings of the human mind... What is certain is that Frayn makes ideas zing and sing in this play.” —Daily Telegraph

“A profound and haunting meditation on the mysteries of human motivation.” —Independent

From the Publisher

Probably the best play about science ever written in English drama. Forget the physics. The greatest experiment... is the dramatic form itself.

The Guardian

A piece of history, an intellectual thriller, a psychological investigation and a moral tribunal in full session.

Sunday Times of London

A profound and haunting meditation on the mysteries of human motivation.

Independent

Frayn has seized on a real-life historical and scientific mystery. In 1941 the physicist Werner Heisenberg, who formulated the famous Uncertainty Principle about the movement of particles, and was at that time leading the Nazi's nuclear programme, went to visit his old boss and mentor, Niels Bohr, in Copenhagen. What was the purpose of his visit to Nazi-occupied Denmark? What did the two old friends say to each other, particularly bearing in mind that Bohr was both half-Jewish and a Danish patriot?... Frayn argues that just as it is impossible to be certain of the precise location of an electron, so it is impossible to be certain about the workings of the human mind... What is certain is that Frayn makes ideas zing and sing in this play.

Daily Telegraph