Ottawa Fringe 2014 : Einstein.
Photo Jesse Ashton
Einstein returns from the dead as it were in a blaze of swirling lights and classical music.Mozart mainly. Projected on a screen are the necessary titles and illustrations of Einstein’s explanations how he perfected his theory of relativity.. It moves from solar eclipse to solar eclipse beginning before the great war and continuing on for 20 years. Those are the important moments of the founding his theory because he needed perfect photos of the eclipse to prove his theory about the movement of light. Technically, the show is impeccable and it holds our interest most of the time. Fry tries to create a total portrait of an excentric genius whose personal life fell apart because it interfered with his inner world of scientific thought and he brought in that part of his world very effectively. The nagging voice of his wife on the phone, the evolution of his relationship with his son Hans.
There are some very moving moments with that young man especially at the end as the father is about to confirm his theory after so many failures. Fry plays all the characters and he captures them quite beautifully. Enormous research has gone into this. It is not easy to create a popular fringe event out of a very complex scientific theory and make it understandable and attractive and entertaining. Nevertheless, about 20 minutes could easily be lopped off this show if he removed some of the most annoying writing obsessions ..such as so-called funny remarks that clearly pander to the audience with his Fringe oriented cheap humour, silly moments as Einstein comes on to a girl in the front row among other “funny” remarks and useless business that take up time. The show is already almost 90 minutes – much too long. Is this supposed to be the modern 21st century Einstein persona? The life of this man as told by Fry is already full of tension and excitement and suspense. And the character is an enigma. We don’t need all those other annoying bits of writing to “please” a Fringe audience. They just bring the show down several notches and ultimately almost ruin it. Too bad.
Plays at the Leonard Beaulne Studio.
Einstein written and performed by Jack Fry
Directed by Tom Blomquist
Graphics by Walker Schupp & Anthony Denha