 "Photo: Keith Ian Polakoff")
The California Repertory Company literally starts off with a bang from the atomic bomb with Carson Kreitzer's "The Love Song of J. Robert Oppenheimer."
Theoretical physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer is known for creating the most powerful weapon of the 20th century through his leadership in the Manhattan Project. This top-secret government experiment ended World War II, saved lives across the globe and ultimately led to the surreal complexities of Oppenheimer's life.
In T.S. Elliot's poem, "The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock," a man, who had the will to explore the universe and all its complications, is shunned by the criticisms of the rest of the world.
In "The Love Song of J. Robert Oppenheimer," fuses these the of scientific history, mythology and the poetic truth of how society plays a pivotal role in the alterations of one's life.
Throughout this production, Kreitzer is able to depict the war from the perspective of Oppenheimer's intricate mind. The play shows how Oppenheimer deals with the elaborate outside elements of his life, such as the women who challenge his every move, the Jewish scientists involved in the Manhattan Project and, finally, the accusations pressed upon him for being a communist. All the while, the seductive mythical temptress, Lilith (Cecily Overman), represents his conscience. She taunts him by questioning every decision, idea and regret that he makes.
According to Jewish mythology, Lilith was the first woman created with Adam, and was cast out of Eden after disobeying Adam, when he asked her to lay down for him.
The first act, entitled "Math," shows the development of the atomic bomb, the process the government enforced, the secrecy behind the Manhattan Project and the complex science discussed by the quirky group of scientists Oppenheimer spends day and night with in Los Alamos, New Mexico.
Craig Anton does a compelling job portraying Oppenheimer as an intelligent confident man with a hidden heart. By expressing Oppenheimer's emotion of love, guilt, anger and fear, Anton is able to show that there is more than just brains and logic to a theoretical physicist. Oppenheimer's love life is also enthralled in this atomic madness that surrounds his life.
The stern military official forces Oppenheimer to hide all the details of the Manhattan Project from his extroverted drunken house-wife, Kitty (Sarah Underwood Saviano). Although she is understanding with her husband on the matter, Saviano expresses loud, inebriated anger towards the military official who accuses her husband of disclosing top-secret information to her.
Eventually, Kitty's anger propels toward Oppenheimer, after the suicide of his mistress, Jean (Anna Steers). Kitty resembles the outspoken drunken housewife, who is determined to make her third marriage work, despite the infidelities involved. Jean portrays the submissive dependant young mistress, with an addiction to pills, and to Oppenheimer.
Overman captures the seductive and defiant role of Lilith with her alluring voice and provocative gestures, by clinging onto Oppenheimer's waist with her legs fully-wrapped around him. Throughout the play, the provocative Lilith climbs all over the playground-like stage, while constantly enabling Oppie, as she calls him, by acting like that little voice inside his head.
This unconventional play reveals the ramifications of what happens when the universe is disutbed in such a way that combines history, myth, and above all, identity.
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