Science on the stage: recent plays on scientific topics show that science and theatre have more in common than it appears.

Abstract

The separation between science and art is not only objectively erroneous, but also dangerous, if taken seriously… it prevents the real world from being an object of fantasy; this way we favour a lack of culture that we are bound to face when we prefer a specific competence to the exploitation of all the possible means to reach knowledge of nature and of the world… let us then forget all deceiving distinctions and let us exploit all man's capabilities, his wit, his feelings and his fantasy. Let us accompany a well‐mastered objectivity with a colourful speech, in order to create not only an objectively better knowledge than the one we possessed before, but also a more pleasant one. Paul Feyerabend, scientist and philosopher (1924–1994) Art and science are often considered to be two disciplines that are diametrically opposed. Art is entertainment—often provocative—and is seen as a mysterious form of creativity based on personal idiosyncrasies. It is not able to offer a reason, nor solve a misunderstanding, but instead poses questions and sometimes challenges well‐established views. Science, in contrast, is regarded as pure, methodical rationality that explains observations and validates theories on the basis of factual affirmation. Such deep stereotypes, held by laypersons, artists and scientists alike, drive a strong wedge between the two activities. But such disciplinary boundaries are contingent and largely arbitrary, and history contains many figures who have successfully transgressed them. We are all familiar with the fascinating combination of science and art in the technical, anatomical and biological drawings of Leonardo da Vinci. Later during the Enlightenment, figures such as Francois Marie Arouet, better known as Voltaire, Gottfried Wilhelm von Leibniz and Benjamin Franklin discussed scientific questions with the same ease as philosophy, politics or the latest novel. And Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, the famous author of …