“I have it in my power to kill every last man on the planet,” declared J Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967), the father of the atom bomb. He had wanted to end all wars. Instead he found he had “left a loaded gun in a playground.” The devastating and moral consequences of bombing Hiroshima and Nagasaki still haunt us today.
Angus Jackson’s production for the RSC of Tom Morton Smith’s Oppenheimer is energetic but not focused enough and the scientist’s relationships with the military, his colleagues, his wife and his mistress are insufficiently exploited. John Heffernan’s Oppenheimer, a fine, understated performance, could be a major turning point in his career. But the play is protracted and there are far too many characters, too many unnecessary scenes, and not nearly enough debate.