Imagining Einstein
to tour KZN schools
“Imagination is more important than knowledge - Albert
Einstein (1879-1955)
The Merry Scholar alias Cape Town actor David Muller returns
to KwaZulu-Natal with Imagining Einstein,
a single-handed play about Albert Einstein covering his life, his science and
the world during his time.
Set to tour KZN schools between July 28 and August 8, 2014,
the play is witty and informative and has been well received wherever it has
been staged. In 2005, the International Year of Physics, it was experienced by
over 30,000 students in southern Africa.
The duration of the play, which is geared especially for
school learners in grades 10 to 12, is 60 minutes with audience participation.
Performances cost R4,000. Discounts apply to performances that are confirmed,
as a result of introduction by another school.
Imagining Einstein
(IE) is available to visit schools in KZN by arrangement (see booking
details below).
IE takes the form
of a lecture-through-theatre. Albert Einstein’s four papers are explained. The
play spans Albert Einstein’s life from age four to retirement in Princeton, New
Jersey. Some of Newton’s and Galileo’s science is included. All in all IE helps demystify science and inspire
young science and math students.
Michelle Saffer, reviewing IE at Kalk Bay Theatre on September 23 2010 under the heading
‘Einstein an Artist of Science’ wrote:
“How many actors can
say they have been in a play whose opening lines are, ‘Ah, the universe!’ David
Muller can, he wrote the play himself, a work of creation that Albert Einstein
would probably have approved of. Einstein was also a creator, but a scientific
one. Einstein, as portrayed by David Muller, was an artist, an artist of
science, an artist of thought. He blissfully would sit and think, doing what he
called ‘thinking experiments’.
David wrote and first
performed the play in 2005, to celebrate the centenary of the publication of
the Einstein’s theories, including the formula that almost everybody knows but
very few understand, E = mc².
David immersed himself
in piles of information, biographical, scientific and anecdotal, looking at
Einstein’s life in Switzerland, Germany and, finally, the United States of
America, and came up with a warm evocation of Einstein, someone you would
happily invite to your home for a bit of apfelstrudel. He might have a bit of a
roving eye but, ah, what a “mensch”, a nice man, always ready to answer
questions from curious children.
The play traces his
life from early childhood, amazed and curious to school, unhappy to be learning
by rote, to his adulthood: his early years in the patent office, his marriages,
his increasing scientific recognition, and the effect of the two World Wars on
this pacifist whose work was the catalyst for the atomic bomb. It is a
wonderful theatrical experience and David holds the audience’s attention
throughout. He is always at ease in interacting with the audience, so much so
that you almost believe you are a visitor in his study… a visitor to whom he
will explain some science.
“If a theory does not
make any sense to a child, do not waste any more energy with it,” David quotes
Einstein as saying. And so David, who confesses his background is completely
unscientific, has grappled with the step by step logic of Einstein’s science
until it make sense to him, and passes on his understanding to us. I am proud
to say that not only do I understand the words behind the concept that the
speed of light is constant, but I saw that the speed was constant, thanks to
David’s demonstration. And if I still don’t really see why we should care of E
= mc², I know why Einstein thought it important to get to that point… And this
from a work of entertainment which is certainly worth seeing.”
To book a performance of Imagining
Einstein for your school, or for further information, call David Muller on
072 986 5311 or e-mail merryscholar13@gmail.com.
Facebook: The Merry Scholar. Twitter: @TheMerryScholar.
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