Review: All Systems Go in OPERATION EPSILON

Operation Epsilon

Written by Alan Brody, Directed by Andy Sandberg; Set Designer, Janie E. Howland; Costume Designer, Charles Schoonmaker; Lighting Designer, John R. Malinowski; Sound Designer/Original Music, Dewey Dellay; Properties Artisan, Megan F. Kinneen; Assistant Director/Dialect Coach, Charles Linshaw; Stage Manager, Dominique D. Burford; Assistant Stage Manager, Katherine Humbert

CAST: Barlow Adamson, Diego Arciniegas, Ken Baltin, Owen Doyle, Kendall Hodder, John Kooi, Will Lyman, Ross MacDonald, Allan Mayo, Robert D. Murphy, Dan Whelton

Performances through April 28 by The Nora Theatre Company and Catalyst Collaborative @ MIT at Central Square Theater, 450 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, MA; Box Office 866-811-4111 or www.centralsquaretheater.org

Operation Epsilon was the code name of the program at the end of World War II in which the Allied forces detained ten German scientists who worked on Nazi Germany's nuclear program. Kept under surveillance for six months (July 3, 1945 - January 3, 1946) by the British military at Farm Hall, an estate in Godmanchester, England, their conversations were secretly recorded with the intent to find out how close the Nazis were to making an atomic bomb, as well as to learn what they knew about the American nuclear program. The Nora Theatre Company, in conjunction with Catalyst Collaborative @ MIT, is staging the world premiere of MIT Professor Alan Brody's play Operation Epsilon which chronicles the confinement and is based on actual transcripts of the secret recordings.

Director Andy Sandberg worked with Brody to develop the play through readings and workshops, extrapolating as many details as possible from pieces of history to craft a cogent, theatrical story. Each of the ten scientists is drawn as a three-dimensional character, defined by whether or not they were members of the Nazi party, as well as by their research specialty and their relationships within the group. The dialogue is replete with math, physics, and politics, but no prior knowledge is necessary to comprehend the import of what is being discussed. Much credit goes to the experienced ensemble of actors who sound natural even when they are reciting lines about heavy water, nuclear fission, and enriched uranium.

So, let's get right to the heart of the matter. The Nora has gathered an amazing company of actors, six of whom are making their debuts on this stage and five returnees. Barlow Adamson, the only cast member speaking with a dialect, exudes dignity and self-control as Major T. H. Rittner, the lone British officer charged with overseeing the program. (The decision was made to forego German accents and, although it is obviously noticeable, it does not detract from the dramatic impact.) Veteran Boston actors Diego Arciniegas, Ken Baltin, Will Lyman, and Robert D. Murphy anchor the ensemble in pivotal roles and have the necessary gravitas to convey the moral dilemma that their characters struggle to resolve, each in his own way. Arciniegas as Werner Heisenberg is the alpha dog of the group, demanding to know the reasons for their captivity and trying to maintain order and civility among his colleagues. After learning of the bombing of Japan, he becomes obsessed with finding the right formula to figure out how the Americans succeeded where the Germans had failed. As the father of nuclear fission, Otto Hahn (Lyman) is devastated by the news and feels responsible for the massive number of Japanese victims.

As Max von Laue, an ardent anti-Nazi and the only one of the ten who had not worked on wartime physics, Ken Baltin is sympathetic while walking the moral high road and being treated like an outsider. In one particular scene, when von Laue and Hahn reminisce about the good old days in Germany before Hitler, watching the two actors is like a mini-master class. Murphy gives a sensitive portrayal as Walther Gerlach, at one point breaking down when he becomes emotionally overwrought, and excitedly working with Heisenberg to convince the group to sign on to a memorandum explaining and defending their work to the scientific community.

The scientists are more or less kept in the dark as to why they are being held and question not only the purpose, but when they will be released or if they could contact their families. As elite, respected members of society in Germany, they are not accustomed to being treated like criminals and the pressure gets to them. They jockey for position in the pecking order and have arguments among themselves, sometimes divided by whether or not they share Nazi party affiliation. As they are being scrutinized by their captors, they scrutinize each other and, eventually, themselves in regard to their culpability for Germany's role in the war.

During these intramural conversations, each member of the ensemble establishes his character's persona. Kurt Diebner (Owen Doyle) and Horst Korsching (Ross MacDonald) are strong-willed, often needling the others; Karl Wirtz (John Kooi) is testy and incensed about having no contact with their families; Carl-Friederich von Weizsäcker (Dan Whelton) is Heisenberg's protégé who pushes von Laue's buttons; Erich Bagge (Kendall Hodder) comes across as whiny and fearful; Paul Harteck (Allan Mayo) keeps a low profile, but he offers kindness to some of the others in their suffering.

Sandberg does an admirable job of blocking, and Janie E. Howland's two-tiered set with John R. Malinowski's lighting design guide our focus to small clusters of actors or the larger group in different scenes. Charles Schoonmaker has designed an array of neatly tailored suits in the style of the war era. Sound design and original music are by Dewey Dellay and we are treated to a fair amount of piano music as Heisenberg often plays to pass the time.

Operation Epsilon is a tautly-written history lesson with timeless resonance. Conjecture about the reasons why the Germans failed to develop an atomic bomb include the decimation of their army of scientists because of anti-Semitism and the anti-intellectualism of the Nazi regime. The latter factor gives me a chill as the condition is widespread in our nation, especially among conservative politicians such as Sarah Palin and others who overuse the word "elite" in a pejorative sense. By showing the scientists' struggle with their moral conundrum, Brody suggests that we must all take responsibility for our actions and opinions, whether or not we are politicians or government officials. In fact, it may be more important that the rest of us stand up for our beliefs to keep our pols honest in their representation of "we, the people." Nearly seven decades later, Nazis are still among us and we live in a nuclear age. This history lesson is worth repeating.

Photo credit: Central Square Theater (l. to r. Owen Doyle, Dan Whelton, Will Lyman, Diego Arciniegas, Allan Mayo, Robert D. Murphy, Ken Baltin, Ross MacDonald, John Kooi, Kendall Hodder)

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