This January 2025 at the Promenade Playhouse
The development of the atomic bomb by J. Robert Oppenheimer and his team has been well chronicled. The intrigues, struggles, jealousies and rivalries among the German scientists racing to develop a nuclear weapon before the Americans are less known and just as fascinating.
British dramatist and historian Katherine Moar has combined all these elements into Farm Hall, a dramatic reenactment that opened in London to much acclaim and will have its U.S premiere in Los Angeles in January 2025.
Drawing from historical research and from actual recorded transcripts, Moar entertains and informs about the men who came close to developing the weapon that might have won Germany the war.
“These accomplished scientists, three of them Nobel Prize winners, were held in isolation at a manor house called Farm Hall in Britain for six months toward the end of World War II,” said Judith Hendra, director of the play and co- founder of the producing group, Topanga Actors Company. “Their families didn’t know where they were, they didn’t know how long they’d be there or if they were headed for imprisonment. This makes for great drama and great conflict.”
After the play’s successful opening in London,The Guardianreported, “It unravels like an intelligent thriller whose ending we know but is nail-biting nonetheless.”
At first the scientists seem bored and anxious by turns, but as the war comes closer to its end their moral conflicts and their rivalries heighten, leading them to question their own motives as well as those of their colleagues.
“Heisenberg is one of the most known of the group, and the question of whether he was unable to produce the bomb or if he could but schemed not to remains an issue,” said Edward Giron, who played Heisenberg previously in the playCopenhagen. “Just as misunderstood is his rival Diebner.”
“Diebner may have been very close to developing the weapon, but wasn’t listened to,” said Mark Irvingsen, who portrays Diebner. “He’s a very conflicted man, an outsider.”
Tom Waters, who plays Otto Hahn, said, “Hahn developed nuclear fission. A man of conscience, he feels his discovery led to mass destruction.”
Patrick Skelton, Ben Birmingham and Andy Spring play the other key scientists. Spring plays a talented, socially connected disciple of Heisenberg, who is led by events to question his belief in him. Birmingham plays the only one of the scientists who came from a poor background. He believes his mission is to create nuclear energy for the good of society. Patrick Skelton is the scientist who sees things in black and white and maintains a strong moral compass.
Farm Hall’s lighting designer is Bill Pierce, a former White House and press photographer who has lit numerous off Broadway shows.
Tickets for Farm Hall, which runs January 17 – February 02, 2025, at the Promenade Playhouse (10931 W. Pico Boulevard, LA, 90064), are available at www.onstage411.com/farmhall.
