Science: Dramatic. Science Plays in America and Great Britain, 1990–2007

Author	Zehelein, Eva-Sabine
Year	2009
Publisher	Heidelberg: Universitätsverlag Winter
Number of pages	380
ISBN	9783825356552
Keywords

Review by Carina Barlett in Modern Drama Winter 2010:
“The relationship between theatre and science is a rich one that has become a significant and growing area of scholarly enquiry in the last decade. Eva-Sabine Zehelein's Science: Dramatic serves as an interesting, if occasionally partisan, addition to this field, and it contains a rich range of material that will make it a valuable source for specialists in contemporary Anglophone drama. The book's central argument is that the incorporation of science into dramatic texts engenders what is a specific genre in its own right: "science-in-theatre," a term and an idea she adopts from the polemical writings of distinguished chemist-turned-playwright Carl Djerassi. Creating a taxonomy of science plays, Zehelein provides a sense of the variety of ways in which scientific discourse, ideas, and personalities featured in drama during the seventeen-year period from 1990–2007.

Science: Dramatic has two main areas of inquiry. The first of these is a lengthy exploration and admirable synthesis of theoretical ground that ranges from C.P. Snow and his infamous Rede lecture of 1959 on "Two Cultures" (of art and science), through to the "science wars" and Sokal's [End Page 597] hoax, and finally to a persuasive defence of the study of dramatic texts as against performance studies. The second, which covers roughly two thirds of the book, is the analysis of dramatic texts that feature science or scientists. Zehelein identifies three main categories of science play: "science-in-theatre"; "history of science in theatre"; and what she calls "borderliners." Discussing the first category, Zehelein represents Djerassi's plays as characterized by the highest degree of engagement with science and places them alongside Shelagh Stephenson's An Experiment with an Air Pump, Stephen Poliakoff's Blinded by the Sun, and, perhaps more controversially, David Auburn's Proof. (Some have argued that the play barely belongs in a consideration of science and theatre at all. Kirsten Shepherd-Barr, for example, observes that the play's "mathematicians might just as well be painters or poets, since the central concern is not with mathematical genius specifically" [128]). The second category concerns the intersection of drama, science, and history, and it is here that Zehelein groups Michael Frayn's celebrated science play, Copenhagen, alongside plays on scientists involved in the discovery of nuclear fission and the elucidation of the structure of DNA. The third and final category, Zehelein's "borderliners," is reserved for those plays that she perceives as being less engaged with scientific ideas than are those in the previous two categories. Arcadia by Tom Stoppard is placed in this third category under the sub-heading of "Science to Play With" because, she argues, it "employs thermodynamics and Fermat's Last Theorem for a fireworks of intellectual gambling" (273). It is one of the book's strengths that its author has managed to organize under these three umbrella categories an impressive range of plays (both published and in manuscript) from the United States and Great Britain, discussing a range of dramatists too numerous to list here. She mines a surprising number of plays about Richard Feynman, explores Maureen Hunter's Transit of Venus, and provides an analysis of the unpublished but intriguing Louis Slotin Sonata by Paul Mullin.

One striking aspect of Science: Dramatic is the prominence that it accords to Djerassi's dramatic texts. As a study, it gives ample critical space to the plays and to his ideas in relation to science and theatre. Djerassi is a controversial figure within the field of theatre and science, not least because he has been an active contributor to the debate about what constitutes a science play. In her analysis of his An Immaculate Misconception and Oxygen (co-written with Roald Hoffmann), Zehelein reveals the complexity of ideas in Djerassi's texts rather than concentrating on their putative theatrical weaknesses. She is not as sympathetic in her treatment of theatre- and performance-studies scholars, however, even accusing one of a "short and superficial discussion" of a play and, in so doing, relegating a potentially interesting counter-reading of the text and [End Page 598] its critical reception to a footnote (219 n326). In general, while the book matches its title in emphasizing text over performance, drama over theatre, there is little mention of specific performances or plays, which would have helped to illuminate the sometimes complex arguments. That said, the study does a neat job of dovetailing its analyses of featured playtexts with thorough interdisciplinary research in the history of science and popular science. Furthermore, Zehelein is very strong in her command of the biographical details of some of the major scientists of the twentieth century, and the book weaves this knowledge throughout the analysis to good effect.

Science: Dramatic is a fine study in many respects, but it is uneven and, despite an impressive bibliography, limited by the lack of an index. The book's championing of Djerassi's plays and his polemical use of "science-in-theatre" as a category leads Zehelein to some unorthodox assessments of playwrights and plays, which means that it is only partially useful as an introduction to the field of drama and science. At times the value of this study seems overshadowed by the author's decision to follow Djerassi, while, at others, that is a clear strength. Overall, Zehelein's lively and well-researched book offers a significant, mostly sensitive and, at times controversial, view of its topic of study.”

Abstract

Amazon (2013): “Science Plays” form a flourishing dramatic sub-genre. The present study provides an informative overview shedding light on the diversity of ways in which the natural sciences and/or scientists are put on stage. Detailed text-based analyses of eighteen plays, many of them previously unexamined elsewhere, exemplify the genre’s remarkable variety. “Classics” such as ‘Copenhagen’ and ‘Arcadia’ are discussed, as well as e.g. ‘Proof’, ‘QED’, ‘Taboos’, ‘Remembering Miss Meitner’, ‘An Experiment With an Air Pump’, ‘Blinded by the Sun’ and ‘Einstein’s Gift’. All plays look critically at scientific progress or promise, pointing at socio-political and ethical challenges for today as well as the future. The plays’ analyses are embedded into discussions of two vital discourses, the Two Cultures and the Science Wars, as well as the drama vs. performance studies paradigm. Together with background material on various themes, events and personae, ‘Science: Dramatic’ broadens into a comprehensive work on the science-drama-society interface.

Review by Carina Barlett in Modern Drama Winter 2010:
“The relationship between theatre and science is a rich one that has become a significant and growing area of scholarly enquiry in the last decade. Eva-Sabine Zehelein's Science: Dramatic serves as an interesting, if occasionally partisan, addition to this field, and it contains a rich range of material that will make it a valuable source for specialists in contemporary Anglophone drama. The book's central argument is that the incorporation of science into dramatic texts engenders what is a specific genre in its own right: "science-in-theatre," a term and an idea she adopts from the polemical writings of distinguished chemist-turned-playwright Carl Djerassi. Creating a taxonomy of science plays, Zehelein provides a sense of the variety of ways in which scientific discourse, ideas, and personalities featured in drama during the seventeen-year period from 1990–2007.

Science: Dramatic has two main areas of inquiry. The first of these is a lengthy exploration and admirable synthesis of theoretical ground that ranges from C.P. Snow and his infamous Rede lecture of 1959 on "Two Cultures" (of art and science), through to the "science wars" and Sokal's [End Page 597] hoax, and finally to a persuasive defence of the study of dramatic texts as against performance studies. The second, which covers roughly two thirds of the book, is the analysis of dramatic texts that feature science or scientists. Zehelein identifies three main categories of science play: "science-in-theatre"; "history of science in theatre"; and what she calls "borderliners." Discussing the first category, Zehelein represents Djerassi's plays as characterized by the highest degree of engagement with science and places them alongside Shelagh Stephenson's An Experiment with an Air Pump, Stephen Poliakoff's Blinded by the Sun, and, perhaps more controversially, David Auburn's Proof. (Some have argued that the play barely belongs in a consideration of science and theatre at all. Kirsten Shepherd-Barr, for example, observes that the play's "mathematicians might just as well be painters or poets, since the central concern is not with mathematical genius specifically" [128]). The second category concerns the intersection of drama, science, and history, and it is here that Zehelein groups Michael Frayn's celebrated science play, Copenhagen, alongside plays on scientists involved in the discovery of nuclear fission and the elucidation of the structure of DNA. The third and final category, Zehelein's "borderliners," is reserved for those plays that she perceives as being less engaged with scientific ideas than are those in the previous two categories. Arcadia by Tom Stoppard is placed in this third category under the sub-heading of "Science to Play With" because, she argues, it "employs thermodynamics and Fermat's Last Theorem for a fireworks of intellectual gambling" (273). It is one of the book's strengths that its author has managed to organize under these three umbrella categories an impressive range of plays (both published and in manuscript) from the United States and Great Britain, discussing a range of dramatists too numerous to list here. She mines a surprising number of plays about Richard Feynman, explores Maureen Hunter's Transit of Venus, and provides an analysis of the unpublished but intriguing Louis Slotin Sonata by Paul Mullin.

One striking aspect of Science: Dramatic is the prominence that it accords to Djerassi's dramatic texts. As a study, it gives ample critical space to the plays and to his ideas in relation to science and theatre. Djerassi is a controversial figure within the field of theatre and science, not least because he has been an active contributor to the debate about what constitutes a science play. In her analysis of his An Immaculate Misconception and Oxygen (co-written with Roald Hoffmann), Zehelein reveals the complexity of ideas in Djerassi's texts rather than concentrating on their putative theatrical weaknesses. She is not as sympathetic in her treatment of theatre- and performance-studies scholars, however, even accusing one of a "short and superficial discussion" of a play and, in so doing, relegating a potentially interesting counter-reading of the text and [End Page 598] its critical reception to a footnote (219 n326). In general, while the book matches its title in emphasizing text over performance, drama over theatre, there is little mention of specific performances or plays, which would have helped to illuminate the sometimes complex arguments. That said, the study does a neat job of dovetailing its analyses of featured playtexts with thorough interdisciplinary research in the history of science and popular science. Furthermore, Zehelein is very strong in her command of the biographical details of some of the major scientists of the twentieth century, and the book weaves this knowledge throughout the analysis to good effect.

Science: Dramatic is a fine study in many respects, but it is uneven and, despite an impressive bibliography, limited by the lack of an index. The book's championing of Djerassi's plays and his polemical use of "science-in-theatre" as a category leads Zehelein to some unorthodox assessments of playwrights and plays, which means that it is only partially useful as an introduction to the field of drama and science. At times the value of this study seems overshadowed by the author's decision to follow Djerassi, while, at others, that is a clear strength. Overall, Zehelein's lively and well-researched book offers a significant, mostly sensitive and, at times controversial, view of its topic of study.”

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