Einstein!

Sew and Sew Productions—MTC Mainstage

I used to tell my children that Grade 12 Physics was the most fun in high school, so this play was tailor-made for me. The 90 minutes breezed by, but that was not the same experience that the people who accompanied me had. Everyone else complained that it was too long.

Jack Fry is an engaging performer who does a great job of contextualizing Einstein’s work, life and times. We learn how his personal life, politics, and plain luck affected his career and discoveries, and how his overpowering curiosity about the physical world damaged his personal world.

At the same time the play meanders a bit, and it has so many characters that at times I had trouble keeping track of everyone. And even though the script needs cutting, it also leaves out some important ideas. In the opening scene Fry shows how many practical uses Einstein’s discoveries have, but he never mentions the most famous application of all, the atomic bomb. The closest he comes is in a slide projection at the end of the show that lists, among other applications “Nuclear power.”

Finally, the production really suffers from the use of a mike on the actor. Throughout the show Fry sounded like he was breaking in a particularly noisy pair of shoes. When he came out after his performance to thank the audience, he showed that he could project his voice well enough to be heard, so I do not know why amplification was necessary. I’d also lose the expository slides at the end of the show.

Kevin Longfield