Oppenheimer - Altrincham Garrick

SOMETIMES its easy forget iconic figures are real people with all the strengths and weaknesses being a member of the human race brings with it.

So it is with the man they call the father of the atomic bomb, J Robert Oppenheimer, who led the project that led to the deaths of more than 200,000 people at Hiroshima and Nagasaki.

These momentous events took place in the final throes of the Second World War and changed our world forever.

We are given a sense of what life would have been like for the man dubbed the father of the atom bomb in a play that is frank and yet non judgemental. Oppie, as he was known among his friends and colleagues, isn’t on trial here despite the devastating after effects of the project he ran.

Jonathan Higgs has quite a presence as Oppenheimer and I’m not just referring to his character’s sartorial strengths, with the enormously talented Higgs ensuring we hang on his every word of an outstanding and cleverly crafted script.

Other noteworthy performances Scarlet Newton as the troubled Jean, David Glover as Oppenheimer’s younger brother David and Mark Jephcott sounds every inch the military man as Leslie Groves.

The high standard of the acting is certainly a tribute to the hard work and dedication of director John Cunningham and co-director Carole Carr and I urge the Garrick to bring these two together again on future productions. Such a prospect is a mouth-watering one.

You could easily describe them as a dream team when it comes to the directing as they allow us audiences members to immerse ourselves in a remarkable and ambitious piece of writing without much effort on our part.

It seems wrong to single out individual performances for praise as there aren’t any bad ones here. The Garrick is the place to be at the moment with the theatre continues to re-define theatre which due to its consistent quality makes it impossible and insulting to describe it as amateur.

Oppenheimer is three hours long. But it didn’t feel like it and the time is sure to fly by, thanks to Tom Morton Smith’s script and some fine performances.

One reason why I like plays about important figures from the past is they have a certain mystique about them, living in those pre social media days.

Enjoy.

Until March 1. Tickets are available from 0161 928 1677 or www.altrinchamgarrick.co.uk.

Star rating – *****

Photo by Martin Ogden