Duet for one, Almeida Theatre, London (January 22nd to March 14th 2009)

Abstract

Peter Brook, the theatre director, once told me in an interview that he had spent 10 years attempting to bring science to the stage. It was difficult, he said, because, at the level of the lab bench, science is essentially reductionist and devoid of emotion and drama. He thought of treating the theme biographically, but decided that scientists are not interested in themselves apart from their science (a notion contradicted, I think, in Michael Frayn's Copenhagen where the ethical and political conflict between the atomic physicists Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg during World War II is portrayed). ![Graphic][1] In the end Brook decided to dramatize neurological illness, after being impressed with Oliver Sacks's book The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat . The reason, he said, was that in neurological case histories one sees the ‘wayward molecules meeting the essential human being’. The production that ensued— The Man Who —was a remarkable dramatization of essential humanity surviving and even thriving despite serious neurological conditions. The play ran into problems in rehearsal, as it happened, for Brook was insistent that neurological symptoms, such as visual agnosia, should be understood at a deep and highly accurate level by the actors and director. In the case of The Man Who , he was dissatisfied with the cast's ability to render accurately the different neurological conditions based on the available symptomatology in the book. I found myself recalling Brook's struggles with dramatized neurology while watching a performance of Duet for One , … [1]: awp057i1