“˜QED’ features life of noted physicist on stage

  Mark Taper Forum Alan Alda portrays
Nobel Prize-winning physicist Richard Feynman, in the premiere of
"QED," showing at the Music Center of the Mark Taper Forum through
May 13.

By Carolyn Brown
Daily Bruin Contributor

Basing a play on an eccentric physicist’s plan to travel
to a country that doesn’t exist seems a bit far-fetched, but
“QED,” with Alan Alda playing the Nobel laureate
Richard Feynman, manages to provide an evening of completely
satisfying entertainment.

More surprising than the unconventional premise is that nearly
the entire show consists of Alda, as Feynman, talking on the
telephone and directly to the audience. He is supported in part of
the second act by Alison Smith, playing one of his students.
However, “QED,” which will be on-stage at the Mark
Taper Forum through May 13, has the feel of a one-man show.

Richard Feynman was one of the principal architects of quantum
electrodynamic, taught at Cal Tech in Pasadena for 30 years.
Besides his accomplishments in physics, including his discovery of
the melted O-ring that caused the Challenger spacecraft explosion,
and his contributions to the development of the atom bomb, Feynman
wrote extensively about physics in a style that was accessible to
the non-scientist.

Among his colleagues Feynman was as well-known for his hobbies
as his professional accomplishments, which were, decidedly,
non-scientific ““ he played the bongo drums, acted in Cal Tech
theater productions, and became quite skillful at drawing nude
women.

Alda, famous for his portrayal as Hawkeye Pierce in the
television show “M*A*S*H,” has spent a good deal of his
career in the theater. In “QED,” his idiosyncratic
demeanor brings the eccentric Feynman to life.

Alda’s genius in moving from laugh-out-loud wit to
desperate sadness in a split second works brilliantly to illuminate
the essence of Feynman, an unusual genius whose boyish enthusiasm
for life and knowledge holds up against his growing realization
that he is dying .

According to the program, “QED” was Alda’s
brainchild. He was impressed with the book, “Tuva or
Bust,” written by Ralph Leighton, Feynman’s friend. The
book focuses on the idea of visiting a remote location which was
generated from a game of Geography between the two men in the
1970s.

Feynman remembered a country called Tannu Tuva from his
childhood hobby of collecting stamps and began researching it for
fun. On a lark, Leighton and Feynman decided to visit it. They made
contact with several people in Tannu Tuva, but Feynman became too
ill to travel. He never made the trip.

Alda took to the book to Gordon Davidson, the creative director
for the Mark Taper, and asked if it could be a theater piece. Peter
Parnell was enlisted to write the script for Alda and the results
were “QED.” The title was changed from “Tuva or
Bust” after a good deal of information from some of
Feynman’s books was incorporated into the script.

In the play, Feynman is asked to deliver a lecture titled
“What We Know.” It’s this theme that provides the
thread with which the script is woven. The audience watches and
listens as Feynman reflects on his role in developing the atom
bomb, exalts in his passion for knowledge, and struggles with the
what the human race does and does not know.

Set in Feynman’s office at Cal Tech, “QED”
takes the audience through eight hours on a Saturday where Feynman
is writing, reflecting and preparing for his role as a Micronesian
chief in the Cal Tech production of South Pacific, and talking on
the telephone with his doctors, who eventually tell him that his
cancer has spread and that he is dying.

Alda is at his finest in delving into the heart and soul of
Feynman’s suffering as he reflects on his life and faces his
imminent death, while brilliantly capturing the optimism and humor
that Feynman was known for.

“QED” provides two hours of complete entertainment
for all audiences. A science background is not needed to appreciate
Feynman’s charms and idiosyncrasies that are so competently
brought to life by Alda.

THEATER: “QED” runs through May 13
at the Mark Taper Forum, 135 N. Grand Ave. Performances are
Wednesday through Saturday at 8 p.m., and Saturdays and Sundays at
2:30 p.m. Ticket prices range from $34 to $44, rush tickets for $12
are available two hours before curtain. For more information call
(213) 680-4017.