Einstein. Theatre at St. Clement’s (see Off-Off Broadway). By Jay Prasad. Directed by Randolph Curtis Rand. With Richard Kent Green. Running time: 2hrs 40mins. One intermission.
Einstein: in brief
Physicist, genius and international hair icon Albert Einstein is the subject of Jay Prasad's bioplay, directed by Randolph Curtis Rand for Variations Theatre Group. Richard Kent Green plays the relativity master.
Einstein: theater review by Adam Feldman
The theory of relativity, as we know, holds that time slows down as one either approaches the speed of light or watches bad theater. By traditional measure, Jay Prasad’s biodrama Einstein is two hours and 40 minutes long; but every awful minute is stretched like taffy by amateurish writing, desultory acting and sheer dramatic dead air.
Spanning 50 years in the life of Albert Einstein (an improbable Green), the play shambles forward in various modes. Some of it is hoary. (Defiant young Einstein to his father: “ Yes, Papa… I made up my mind long ago. I’ll work on physics even if it means starvation… [Father sits with bowed head. Mother says ‘Oy!’]”). Some is melodramatic. (Old Einstein, on discovering a flaw in his theory: “I never thought I would make mistakes… I’ve lost my magic touch. [Shouting] Damn that cosmological constant! Damn!! [Lights dim.]”) Some is merely bafflingly banal. (Einstein to a friend: “These are delicious macaroons… Just the right amount of sponginess and sweetness… Want one?”) There are also cameos by a creepy-queer J. Edgar Hoover—fondling the hand of an FBI underling—and an inexplicably twinkly and smiley Adolf Hitler. You can’t make this stuff up, by which I mean you can’t make up to the audience the precious time it wastes.—Theater review by Adam Feldman
Follow Adam Feldman on Twitter: @FeldmanAdam
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