Review: From Elsewhere: On the Watch…

Part of The Bomb: A Partial History – Second Blast season at the Tricycle Theatre

 

“A door always leads to somewhere”

The final piece in the second part of the Tricycle’s The Bomb – a partial history returns to Zinnie Harris with From Elsewhere: On the Watch… where she revisits her characters of Frisch and Peierls from the opening From Elsewhere: a message… The scientists who did so much to advance the initial discoveries around nuclear technology have now been reincarnated as weapons inspectors in Iran who are confronted with the reality of what has been wrought with the revelations that came from their laboratory.

It’s a little heavy-handed in places and again doesn’t really possess much dramatic pull, but ultimately there is much that works about it. Daniel Rabin and Rick Warden has genuine chemistry as old friends who know each other inside out; there’s a deep recognition of the futility of much of the process of inspection, and the sense of unity that comes from revisiting this pair makes as neat an ending as one could have hoped for in such a hugely complex area as is covered altogether here.

And indeed, the first introduction of the chilling sight of protective suits serves as a powerful reminder of how terrifying a threat nuclear attack is. It may seem that the direct danger to us has receded but as one of those very few countries with nuclear capabilities and tensions elsewhere ever rising and seemingly unresolvable, this reminds us that our complacency could well be misplaced.

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