'Remembering Miss Meitner': an attempt to forge history into drama

Abstract

As a historian of science who had dramatised his PhD thesis for television, I eagerly participated in discussions on science related theatre prompted by the spectacular success of Michael Frayn's 'Copenhagen'. At two symposia on the relations between science, drama, and history organised by the Niels Bohr Archive in Copenhagen, I asked, as others have asked: can drama provide insight into the scientific enterprise? can theatre be used for exploring the history of science? My reflections on juggling the demands of scholarship with those of art as well as my tentative outlines for history of science based plays seemed safe enough in an academic auditorium, but subsequently I was invited to write one such play for theatrical production. In moving from idea to script to performance, I gained further respect for the difficulties of harmonising history and drama. To dramatise history of science is a risky endeavour, but one worth the effort.