Theatre review: Oppenheimer

Two years ago in the Swan, the RSC had a hit with a revival of A Life of Galileo, which gloried in the enduring enthusiasm of the scientist even as his discoveries edge his life towards tragedy. So it's not too surprising if they now revisit the theme, going straight for the subject of Brecht's metaphor: The development of the atomic bomb during World War II. Tom Morton-Smith's Oppenheimer sees the titular scientist, known to all as Oppie (Perennial Next Big Thing John Heffernan,) start as an enthusiastic, popular physics lecturer at Berkeley, whose students provide him with a ready-made pool of young scientists when a controversial new project comes calling. But long before America's involvement with the war in Europe, Oppie and his friends are concerned about the rise of fascism, and holding Communist Party fundraisers to help fight it.

Theatre review: The Boss of it All

If the concept of a Lars von Trier comedy isn't weird enough, the comedy itself certainly is. Based on a more-or-less forgotten¹ von Trier film, Jack McNamara's The Boss of it All is set in a Danish IT company that's been running for 10 years largely thanks to the success of a single programme. It's owned by the ruthless Ravn (Ross Armstrong,) who despite being happy to trick his staff out of their rights to the programme they created, and cutting their perks to boost his own profits, wants to be loved by them. So for the last decade he's hidden the fact that it's actually his own company. The staff think he's a long-suffering manager, grudgingly passing down the draconian commands of a fictitious MD, Svend. When he decides to sell the company to an Icelandic millionaire with a hatred of the Danes who will inevitably fire everyone, he needs Svend to actually make an appearance, so hires unemployed actor Kristoffer (Gerry Howell.)