Farm Hall: The Play

It's July 1945. Germany is in defeat and the atomic bombs are on their way to Japan. Under the direction of Samuel Goudsmit, the Allies are holding some of the top German nuclear scientists--among them Heisenberg, Hahn, and Gerlach--captive in Farm Hall, an English country manor near Cambridge, England. As secret microphones record their conversations, the scientists are unaware of why they are being held or for how long. Thinking themselves far ahead of the Allies, how will they react to the news of the atomic bombs? How will these famous scientists explain to themselves and to the world their failure to achieve even a chain reaction? How will they come to terms with the horror of the Third Reich, their work for such a regime, and their behavior during that period? This one-act play is based upon the transcripts of their conversations as well as the author's historical work on the subject.\\[4pt] Discussion of the play with the playwright follows after the staged reading.