• 1
• 2

• THEATER + TALK
• IN ENGLISH
• COMEDY
• NEWTON
• HOOKE
• RIVALRY

• Fr., 27.03.2015, 20:00

Post-Performance Discussion in English: ISAAC’S EYE

Sex, drugs & science in the 17th century! Laugh about Isaac Newton and Robert Hooke’s rivalry in this brilliant comedy, and discuss the topic after the show with scientist Dr. Regine Hengge, director Günther Grosser and the cast.

• 1Science moves in mysterious ways. Foto: Daniel Gentelev
• 2 Günther Grosser, Künstlerischer Leiter, English Theatre Berlin | International Performing Arts Center

Isaac's Eye is part of ETB | IPAC's Science&Theatre program, where scientists and artists join forces in the production process. After the performance, you are invited to discuss Newton and Hooke’s rivalry, and more generally the role of personal ambition in scientific discovery, with the director of the piece, Günther Grosser, as well as with Dr. Regine Hengge and the cast.

About the Venue:

English Theatre Berlin | International Performing Arts Center

English Theatre Berlin | International Performing Arts Center is the German capital’s only producing and presenting organization in the Hauptstadt expressly dedicated to English, the 21st century lingua franca, as the working language. Our year-round programming comprises the Producing Series – Made in Berlin, the Presenting Series, as well as our Performing Series and Pedagogy Series. We are a proud member of Berlin’s freie Szene, the independent performing arts community, and are currently developing platforms to share our work within Germany and abroad. We consciously use theater and performance as living, discursive forms to bring artists and audiences into conversation with each other about our shared city and the greater world we live in.

www.etberlin.de  

About the piece:

'Isaac's Eye' by Lucas Hnath


Isaac Newton wants to become a member of the Royal Society. Catherine wants to start a family. Robert Hooke wants to know what Newton knows. The guy with the plague wants to stay alive. They conduct a risky experiment. Afterwards, Newton doesn’t know any more than before but Hooke gets his sex diary back, Catherine’s skepticism is stronger than ever and the guy with the plague is dead. Science moves in mysterious ways. Isaac’s Eye mixes the facts of Isaac Newton’s life with an equal dose of fiction to explore what great people are willing to sacrifice to become great people.It puts the history of science onstage, juxtaposing historical characters and facts with our 21st century based projection of them.

About the Participants:

Günther Grosser, Prof. Regine Hengge and young scientists

Since 2010, English Theatre Berlin has presented productions dealing with the topic of science. In preparing these, the director, dramaturg and actors, for whom scientific issues are fresh territory, cooperate with scientists and advanced science students, who step out of the lab to explore both potential social and ethical aspects of their work and the stage as an equally new medium for science communication. The performance itself is the final part of the project,  as a new means of science communication via the medium of theater. One of English Theatre Berlin's artistic directors, Günther Grosser, collaborates with Prof. Dr. Regine Hengge, who headed the Freie Universität’s Microbiology Unit from 1998 to 2013 and now holds a similar position at the Humboldt-Universität Berlin.