Copenhagen

Written by Michael Frayn, Copenhagen is a two-act play based on a real-life meeting between physicists Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg in 1941. Although based on real events, the play is nonlinear, as its three characters (Bohr, Heisenberg, and Bohr’s wife Margrethe) reunite after death to relive and better understand that fateful meeting. First performed in 1998, the play has won numerous awards, including a Tony Award for Best Play. The play was also adapted into a film in 2002.

Plot Summary

After their deaths, the spirits of Margrethe and Niels Bohr and Werner Heisenberg meet to try and remember why Heisenberg traveled to Copenhagen in 1941. The meeting’s purpose has become obscured over time, though its fallout was felt for many years. With Denmark under Nazi occupation at the time, it was difficult to arrange. The meeting represented the end of the famous friendship and working relationship between the two celebrated physicists, Bohr and Heisenberg.

Heisenberg is aware that he is being closely monitored by the Gestapo. His presence in Denmark is difficult for Bohr; despite their past friendship, meeting with a famous Nazi will brand Bohr as a collaborator among his fellow Danes. Both men remember the walks they took together, so they may do so again if they need to speak privately.