In Friedrich Dürrenmatt's play, Johann Mobius, the world’s greatest physicist, is locked away in a madhouse along with two other scientists. Why? Because he is haunted by recurring visions of King Solomon, and the other two are convinced they are Einstein and Newton. But are these three actually mad? Or are they playing a murderous game with the world at stake? This darkly comic satire probes the cost of sanity among men of science and whether it is the mad who are the truly sane.
An L.A. Theatre Works full cast performance featuring:
Anne Gee Byrd as Fraulein Doktor
Matthew Patrick Davis as Guhl/Jorg-Lukas/Murrillo
John de Lancie as Newton
Matt Gaydos as Blocher/Adolf-Friedrich/McArthur
Harry Groener as Einstein
Christopher Guilmet as Police Doctor/Sievers/Wilfried-Kaspar
Melinda Page Hamilton as Frau Rose
Gregory Itzin as Inspector/Herr Rose
Roma Maffia as Sister Boll
Missy Yager as Monika
Bruce Davison as Möbius
Includes an interview with Richard Rhodes, author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning book The Making of the Atomic Bomb.
Directed by Brendon Fox. Recorded before a live audience at the Skirball Cultural Center, Los Angeles in July of 2009.
The Physicists is part of L.A. Theatre Works' Relativity Series featuring science-themed plays. Major funding for the Relativity Series is provided by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, to enhance public understanding of science and technology in the modern world.