A Trip to "COPENHAGEN", May 2003
By Emilia Cianci - adjustments by Lynn Priest

Centaur Theatre is in Old Montreal, near Notre Dame basilica at the beautiful Place D’Armes, where there is also a monument to Montreal's founders. Originally the building housed the first stock exchange of the city, and still has a distinctive colonnaded portico that seems designed to give prominence to the plays' banners.

"Copenhagen", the last play of this season at Centaur, was written by Michael Frayn, who began his career as a reporter at "The Guardian". It has won several awards and has played in theaters since 1998. Recently it has been translated into Italian, was published and is currently playing in Turin, "Teatro Carignano" in the center of the city, May 28 - June 8 by the actors Umberto Orsini, Giuliana Lojodice and Massimo Popolizio, well known in Italy.

"In 1941, the German physicist Werner Heisenberg made a trip to Copenhagen to see his Danish counterpart, Niels Bohr. They were old friends and close colleagues, and they had revolutionized atomic physics in the 1920’s with their work together on quantum mechanics and the uncertainty principle. But now the world has changed, and the two men were on opposite sides in a world war. Why the German physicist Heisenberg went to Copenhagen in 1941 and what he wanted to say to the Danish physicist Bohr are questions which have exercised historians of nuclear physics even since…"

Heisenberg, Bohr and his wife Margrethe, meet once more to work out the answer to that question, now that all of them are dead and no one can be hurt or betrayed anymore. The set is very simple, all black with a raised circular floorboard painted with colored spirals symbolizing the Galaxy, over which there are three high-backed wooden chairs. A spot of light follows Heisenberg when he is "outside the house" of Bohr; at the beginning of the acts, bars of light spring from the board’s circumference creating a curtain around the actors, through a thin veil of smoke drifting from the backstage. The lights stress also any passage from the "actual present" to the "tense present" when the three relive what happened during that fateful day. At last they play an alternate version where Bohr doesn’t interrupt his talk with Heisenberg, suggesting the calculation that allows him to understand how to build an atomic bomb; the sound of an explosion rocks the theatre and a strong, livid light lightens the actors in sharp contrast. "And suddenly a very different and very terrible new world begins to take shape…" gravely comments Bohr.

As Mr. Davis stated in the "talk back" with the audience at the end of the play, "Copenhagen" is an "intelligent" work: it looks as simple as anything can be, but under the surface there are so many themes implied. Most interesting for him is the relationship between those people who are linked by a bond of affection, but whose personal lives are caught in historical events that separate them. It’s also a play famous among actors because of its long dialogues. Asked by a man from the audience how they manage to cope with its long monologues, Mr. Davis answered with an impish smile: "When we have done that, I’ll let you know."

This is just a joke, of course: the actors (whose resumes are impressive) "did their homework" long before they gathered in Montreal for the rehearsal period. In the talk back, Mr. Davis explained that in the first week they simply read the lines around a table, and then proceeded to discuss and set up the movements on stage.

For certain, they decided to put in stark contrast the body language of the male characters. James Kidnie (an attractive man with his head shaved and astonishingly electric blue eyes) plays the German physicist intense and stern, full of controlled energy; his movements are sharp, his tone often clipped. He had the burden to choose the destiny of his country and his dear ones, and after the war became a pariah in the scientific community. "Hands that actually built the bomb, refused to shake mine." he bitterly remarks.

In contrast, Mr. Davis’ movements are relaxed and smooth, suggesting openness. As Heisenberg himself states, Bohr was a profoundly good man. What a shame that no recording of this production was permitted! Some of Mr. Davis’ gestures look hauntingly familiar – the way he rubs his left hand on his brow, or combs his forelock away, and sometimes takes out a pipe from his pocket, toying with it – but this time he is allowed to show his warm smile and play a wide range of emotions, from the joy when he sees his "foster son" on his doorstep to the deep sadness when he is reminded that he actually was part of the team that build the atomic bomb. Both he and Margrethe walk with the slight hesitation in gait typical of elderly people, that in reality none of the actors possess.

Margrethe is portrayed by Carolyn Hetherington. She has clear blue eyes and the kind of face that becomes more and more aristocratic with age. She proudly stands by her husband, resolute to deny any possible accusation against him. She is resolute also to repudiate that "clever son" Heisenberg who gave them so much trouble – but in the end she can’t help but make a sort of peace with him. In my opinion, Margrethe represents the audience’s point of view and is the one appointed to issue uneasy truths; not an easy part. After the show I told her this and she started to say that she thought it was important… but we were interrupted, and there wasn’t an opportunity to continue the conversation.

"Copenhagen" deals with very serious issues, but it’s not gloomy. The actors take full advantage of the moments when the audience can’t help but smile; for instance when Heisenberg and Margrethe join forces to affectionately tease Bohr about his slowness in skiing, or when Bohr recalls the first time he met his younger colleague. A lecture in Gottingen, rows of eminent physicians and mathematics showing their appreciation, "Suddenly, up jumps a cheeky young pup and tells me that my mathematics are wrong." And Heisenberg, unabashed: "They were wrong."

Sadly the few years in which theoretical physicists worked with enthusiasm all around Europe in the end produced, amongst many good things, a new and terrible weapon that can end all life on Earth. But the last lines, issued by Heisenberg, aren’t desperate: there shall be an end for Humankind, but while the world lasts, it’s here for all of us to enjoy. "Preserved, just possibly, by that one short moment in Copenhagen. By some event that will never quite be located or defined. By that final core of uncertainty at the heart of things."

A brief interval after the applause ceased, the lights brightened anew and the actors came back, taking a glass in their hands, to talk with the part of the audience that wanted to stay and question them. I already told you some of their answers. A man in the audience wanted to know what they thought about a sour review printed the day before in the "Gazette", but a pretty young woman who was hosting the "talk back" warned that no discussions about the reviews are allowed until the production is over. Mr. Kidnie affirmed that he doesn’t read them anyway, Mme Hetherington said: "I try not to take them seriously."

The same man affirmed that he saw "Copenhagen" more than once, and different actors always stressed a different aspect of the play; in a hundred years, in his opinion, it shall be considered a classic. A modern classic, agrees Kidnie, quoting a saying by Frank Zappa (if I remember well): "Don’t read classics: write them." As for Mr. Davis, he says that "Copenhagen" is a drama about the frailty of human life. Something that at 25 you don’t think about, but comes to you with time. Asked why, in his opinion, Heisenberg went to meet Bohr, he answered: "I think that the explanation is in line five: he wanted to have a talk."

After the rest of the audience left, a small group of X-Files fans stayed in the gallery. Mez should have been with us, but unfortunately had a last minute problem and couldn’t come ("What a shame!" exclaimed Mr. Davis when he heard this). The actors came upstairs, after changing into more comfortable clothes; we asked them to sign the program, and talked briefly with them while Lynn asked Mr. Davis to have a drink with us. He kindly agreed, although he was certainly tired after a long week of performances and the "talk back" that night; he wore sneakers, jeans, a shirt and a green pullover, because the night was rainy. He can wear jeans without any problem; he is tall and lean; weird how he looks sturdier on stage, wearing a suit.

We talked about "Copenhagen"; I thanked Mr. Davis because he and the other actors spoke so clearly that I understood every word. He answered that he was thinking about my capability to comprehend, and hoped that I read the text in advance, especially because of those "switches in time", sometimes square in the middle of a line; at first, even he thought, "And now where are we?" Well, yes, I too did my homework and read the script. Mr. Davis knew that I was there because we briefly met the day before: I brought a few small gifts from Italy, and Lynn presented me to The Boss so I could give him his own. In case you were wondering: a Murano paperweight for him and a box of *Gianduiotti* chocolates for CSM. A joke like this is worth a trip to Area 51, I know, but I couldn’t resist.

Being X-Philes, we couldn’t help but steer the discourse to CSM and the Mytharc; Genevieve voiced all the objections we already discussed on the board, that it was upsetting to see the Mytharc disrupted and the familiar characters killed – CSM for the *third* time - and that it was even more irritating to be told that CSM operated only to make Mulder’s life miserable. Typical of him, Mr. Davis didn’t complain and reminded us that Carter could have shut the series down at the end of seventh season, but "Fox" was determined to exploit the X-Files to the end, so they could have given the series to another producer. Morgan and Wong tried for a while to keep the continuity… then gave up. We also discussed a lot of details about which fans debate and wonder, like the story of how CSM puts on his gloves before taking Scully out of the car, in "En Ami". Mr. Davis asked Carter why, it doesn’t seem to make sense; he answered: "Don’t worry, it looks cool."

We asked him if he was contacted about the second X-F movie. "There’s going be a second movie?" was the response. Notwithstanding the voices that now and then come out, the project is still out of sight. It may be a prequel, we pointed out: CSM could appear in it. Well, Carter had a point: since 1992 David and Gillian unavoidably aged too much for a prequel. Anyway, Mr. Davis has a project for a movie *of his own*. He didn’t give details, but Mez I trust will keep us posted!

About "En Ami": its end was like he envisioned since the beginning, he wanted to show how the encounter with Scully changed CSM, so when he had in his hands the maximum power – the infamous CD – he decides to throw it away. Many other things had been changed, however, and this was frustrating after he took the care to build the story step by step, in a logical way – but he said it smilingly. And he wore an even more boyish smile when he told us that he had wanted CSM to teach Scully to water-ski: Mulder teaches her baseball, it seems that everyone wants to have some sport with her…

Genevieve and her friends belong to a fan club for Gillian Anderson that had a Scully Marathon for Neurofibromatosis this past weekend. They had a camcorder, and Mr. Davis agreed to record, on the spot, a message of greeting for them. Impressed by their knowledge about the details of the X-Files, he couldn’t help but ask, "How many times have you seen the episodes?"

We were beginning to talk about fanfiction, how CSM and the rest of the gang inspired many writers, "And some of them have gone…slightly astray." Someone asked if he had ever heard of "slash" fanfiction – he hadn’t. We explained that there were "odd" pairings being written about – CSM/Mulder, Skinner/Krycek, etc… He laughed and then was even more amused by fiction joining CSM and Scully. I wish you could see Mr. Davis, when he said this spreading his hands with a smile and a twinkle in his eyes. But it was half past eleven, and time to let him go. We took pictures with him in turn, and some photos of the whole group near the "Copenhagen" poster, thanks to Quincy, who works in the theatre like Lynn and kindly agreed to stay late for us. He too is an actor (well, he is handsome) and hopefully we’ll hear about him in future as he also has big plans.

At last, Mr. Davis took his leave giving a big hug to everyone of us. We parted reluctantly, but still had time to chat with Quincy outside the theatre. Lynn, my guardian angel, took me to my hotel and told me to watch "Global TV" the next morning, because Mr. Davis was being interviewed "live" at their studio. It aired around 8.30 AM, preceded by that scene in "The Red and the Black" when a boy takes back to CSM the letter he sent to Spender. It was 15 years since the last time Mr. Davis was on stage, and he said he was happy to return with "Copenhagen" because it’s an intelligent play, the kind he likes. He has known the director for 40 years - they met when Maurice Podbrey was an actor and he a resident director in the Dundee Repertory Theatre, and were best men at each other’s wedding ("My marriage didn’t last, but that’s not his fault." said Mr. Davis in another interview to "The Suburban"); it’s important, to have someone to believe in and who believes in what you are doing, he says.

Then the woman who interviewed him said something like: "You have been, for most of your career, a director and a teacher, before landing the part in the X-Files that made you famous. Did I understand what you said before, that there is a person who came from Italy to see you?" Mr. Davis, with his best smile and opening his arms, answered: "They recognize me all over the world, it’s unbelievable! A group of fans decided to gather and come to see me. It’s fantastic!"

Well, that’s another thing that I love in Mr. Davis: he likes to have fans, and isn’t shy to show it. :-)