Scientific theatre is an idea difficult at first to grasp. It is, in essence, a paradox, for science is the art of determining sustainable, tangible facts and theatre is the art of mimesis. Science has been described as the systematic and organized inquiry into the natural world in order to gain a deeper and often useful understanding (Railsback). Theatre has been described as an art that touches upon something sensed but bears intellectually elusive meanings in life (Cohen 16). Mixing them evokes a curiosity, a mystery, and, often, an awe that is both mindboggling and captivating. As such, it becomes an object of desire for many writers, one of which is the famed Tom Stoppard. Tom Stoppard is a playwright who, like many of his fellow playwrights, melds science and theatre. In the following paragraphs I will explain the necessary ideas of quantum mechanics and demonstrate their relationship to Stoppard’s play, Hapgood. There are numerous ways Stoppard relates quantum mechanics to the spy world but I will focus on a few topics that are more prominent in the play. The scientific topics Stoppard discusses are the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, double-slit experiment, entangled particles, quantum jumps, radiation, the seven bridges of Konigsberg, and prime numbers. All of these concepts are performative; however, I will focus on the uncertainty principle and the double-slit experiment. Performativity is the demonstration of concepts in the play for dramatic effect. In addition to performativity, Stoppard applies quantum mechanics to the inter-scene and scene changes for theatrical effect, uses the double-slit experiment to demonstrate the value of the dual self within an individual, and employs the current gap in physics’ knowled... ... middle of paper ... ...y be Considered Complete?" Physical Review (1935): 777-780. Fleming, John. Stoppard's Theatre: Finding Order amid Choas. Austin: University of Texas Press, 2001. Hooft, Gerard. Does God Play Dice? 1 December 2005. 21 November 2009 . Mayes, Keith. What is quantum mechanics? 1 November 2009 . Railsback, Dr. Bruce. Some Definitions of Science. 27 October 2009. 1 November 2009 . Schrödinger, Erwin. "The Present Situation in Quantum Mechanics." Proceedings of the American Philosophical Society (1983): 323-38. Stanford University. Quantum Entanglement and Information. 20 January 2006. 1 November 2009 . Stoppard, Tom. Plays: 5. London: Faber, 1996.
Holtzman, Jack M. "A note on Schrodinger's cat and the unexpected hanging paradox." The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science v39. 1988. 397-401.
Quantum Mechanics This chapter compares the theory of general relativity and quantum mechanics. It shows that relativity mainly concerns that microscopic world, while quantum mechanics deals with the microscopic world.
Anchor Books, Random House, New York 2000 Lustig, Harry; Shepherd-Barr, Kirsten. Science as Theater. American Scientist Nov/Dec2002, Vol. 90 Issue 6, p550, 6p, 3c, 1bw
Stoppard had focused on proving the fact that scientific knowledge differs from literary or historical knowledge. The desire for knowledge is more important and art is easily understandable in a way that science does not while using the language of art to explain things. Tom Stoppard has been hailed as Britain’s greatest living playwright and his plays exemplify his artistic genius and craftsmanship. Stoppard’s Arcadia is a comedy of ideas. According to Michael Bellington, “Arcadia adorns the West End and makes us think and feel in equal measure.”
Fodor, Jerry (1997), “Special Sciences: Still Autonomous After All These Years”, Philosophical Perspectives 11: 149-163.
Cassidy, David Charles "Uncertainty: the life and science of Werner Heisenberg", New York 1992, W.H. Freeman and Company
The given stimulus was “Little Red Riding Hood - Physical Theatre “ in which I was immensely intrigued. Quite simply, physical theatre can be described as a form of theatre that puts emphasis on movement rather than dialogue. I thought that we should certainly use aspects of physical theatre but it was important to not purely use physical theatre but to include other dramatic elements too. As soon as possible I decided to brainstorm different physical theatre aspects of Little Red Riding Hood. After reading an article on the underlying meaning behind Little Red Riding Hood I learnt that we should incorporate gory detail and hyperbolic actions into the devised piece and amplify the levels as the piece develops.
Fowler, Michael. “Modern Physics.” Lecture. Mass and Energy. 1 Mar. 2008. Web. 13 Oct. 2013.
There is much at stake when delineating the histories of theatre through dramaturges and their dramaturgical practices. There is the perpetual presence of fallacies: a historical rather than historiographical approach, a search for legacies and linearity, and a Darwinian evolutionist lens that paradoxically renders static ‘Theatre’, which is a dynamic in-process event-structure. The mode here is to avoid these pitfalls and through a deconstructive approach tread the dialectic of theory-praxis in Peter Brook’s Theatre of Cruelty. The approach is not a complicated one, albeit transitory and shifting in focus. The shifting nature emerges from the conjuring of Artaud rather than Artaud by the subject (Brooks’ dramaturgy) and my analysis.
In March, Einstein creates the quantum theory of light, the idea that light exists as tiny packets, or particles, that we now call photons. Alongside Max Planck's work on quanta of heat, and Niels Bohr's later work on quanta of matter, Einstein's work anchors the most shocking idea in twentieth century physics: we live in a quantum universe, one built out of tiny, discrete chunks of energy and matter.
Though Einstein was one of the greatest contributors to physical science of our times, he was by no means the most brilliant theorist or experimenter. Competent specialists within the field of physics could have better accomplished some of his mathematical deductions. In fact, he needed the assistance of a friend, mathematician Marcel Grossman, to wield the tools necessary to develop his general theory of relativity. Einstein shined brightest within a theoretical context, but, despite the fact that his relativistic theories were most revolutionary, the study of quantum mechanics made a larger impact on the way physics is studied today. What, then, set Einstein apart? Curiosity was the key factor. As Einstein said, "I have no special gift - I am o...
Applied Theatre work includes Theatre-in-Education, Community and Team-building, Conflict Resolution, and Political theatre, to name just a few of its uses. However, Christopher Balme states that “Grotowski define acting as a communicative process with spectators and not just as a production problem of the actor” (Balme, 2008: 25). Applied Theatre practices may adopt the following “theatrical transactions that involve participants in different participative relationships” such as Theatre for a community, Theatre with a community and Theatre by a community Prentki & Preston (2009: 10). Whereas, applied theatre one of its most major powers is that it gives voice to the voiceless and it is a theatre for, by, and with the people. However, Applied Theatre practitioners are devising educational and entertaining performances bringing personal stories to life and build
“Theatre makes us think about power and the way our society works and it does this with a clear purpose, to make a change.”
Leibniz, Gottfried Wilhelm., and J. M. Child. The Early Mathematical Manuscripts of Leibniz. Mineola, NY: Dover Publ., 2005.