[NEohioPAL] Rave for Einstein at Actors' Summit

[Stephen via NEohioPAL]

One-man show ‘Einstein’ educates and delights with scientist's
eccentricities 

By Kerry Clawson 

Beacon Journal staff
writer 


 



 

>From the minute we see actor Brian Zoldessy standing in profile
with a pipe in the arched doorway of Albert Einstein’s study in Princeton, we
know we’re in for something good.


 


Zoldessy, inarguably one of the finest actors in Northeast Ohio,
captures our attention from the start and holds it closely for a full 92
minutes in the one-man show Einstein, now
playing at Actors’ Summit.


 


This short, slight actor embodies Einstein’s famously wild look
with his grown-out gray hair and mustache, and brings out his eccentric spirit
as the renowned scientist engages in an animated chat with the audience. In
this play, written by Willard Simms and directed by Neil Thackaberry,
Einstein’s goal is for people to get to know him and understand that he’s not a
monster for his role in the creation of the atomic bomb.


 


Through Zoldessy, we see that Einstein — the German-born
theoretical physicist considered one of the greatest geniuses who ever lived —
was full of wonderful eccentricities. He entertains with jokes and explains
that he can’t be bothered to get haircuts, wear socks, or even change his
clothes daily.


 


We learn that the man who created the general theory of relativity
didn’t even work in a lab: He developed his amazing scientific breakthroughs,
including the famous E=mc2 formula, in the “office” of his mind.


 


Zoldessy, a Cleveland resident and professor of theater at
Cuyahoga Community College’s Eastern Campus, has appeared on and Off-Broadway,
in regional theater, TV and film. He was last seen at Actors’ Summit in the
excellent two-man play Freud’s Last Session.


 


He brings impish humor and poignant pain to his characterization.
The funny little mannerisms and anec­dotes are most memorable, sticking his
tongue out, enacting a party trick by removing his vest while still wearing his
coat. Simms’ anecdotes jump around a bit too much, often shifting gears
abruptly as Einstein goes from topic to topic, returning to some repeatedly.
It’s not a linear story and there’s no dramatic buildup.


 


Nevertheless, Zoldessy gives us a solid education on Einstein the
man, who was born in Germany in 1879 and emigrated to the United States in
1933, after Hitler came to power in Germany. He became a U.S. citizen in 1940
and died in 1955.


 


In this play, Einstein tries to explain just one equation on the
blackboard, which is enough to make the eyes glaze over. He also discusses
scientific principles through an example of an electrical storm, and ends up
repeating himself.


 


This man with the disheveled appearance and cluttered shelves
tells us he’s a “simple, absentminded Jew.” That self-deprecating humor is the
fun part, as we watch the scientific genius actually count on his fingers while
doing math and listen to him talk about getting lost in Princeton because he
forgot his own address.


 


Einstein, a rock star of his day who was celebrated across
continents, won the Nobel Prize in physics in 1921 for his discovery of the law
of the photoelectric effect. But even that triumph is laced with pain, as
Einstein reveals that he used the prize money to obtain a divorce from his
first wife, Mileva.


His personal life carried plenty of pain, including the mental
decline of his son Eduard and the death of his second wife, Elsa. The Nazis
branded him a traitor, seized his home and bank account and put a $5,000 bounty
on his head in 1933.


 


But nothing brought Einstein more regret than his 1939 letter to
U.S. President Franklin Roosevelt alerting him to the potential dangers of
atomic weapons in the hands of the Nazis. The letter presumably jump-started
the U.S. race to develop the atomic bomb first, which the pacifist Einstein
calls in the play a perversion of his own scientific theories. The effects of
that letter haunt Einstein in a nightmare scene in which he dreams he has died
and is referred to as the “father of the atomic bomb.” “Morality, morality has
always been more important to me than scientific achievement,” he says.


 


On the lighter side, it’s funny to imagine Princeton students
stopping Einstein to ask if he can help them with their homework. He also talks
about how his genius is always on display in America, like a side show at the
circus. “Sometimes I think the American press expects me to only have one
occupation — genius — and to practice it 24 hours a day,” he jokes. We learn
about Einstein’s great love of music, especially Mozart, but we don’t get to
hear him play the violin. His character romanticizes the similarities between
scientists and musicians, whom he says both ponder the sacred mysteries of the
universe.


 


This work covers a lot of historical ground that isn’t always
skillfully packaged by Simms. But the accomplished Zoldessy makes all of
Einstein’s words ring with truth. Among the play’s many aphorisms are these two
favorites: “God does not play dice with the universe,” and “The search for
truth is always more important than its possession.”


 


Arts writer Kerry Clawson may be reached at 330-996-3527 or kclawson at thebeaconjournal.com.


 		 	   		  
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