WORLDS IN COLLISION
by Iddo Netanyahu
Einstein and Velikovsky… Great fame and infamy… Why the difference? These are some of the intriguing questions contained in the play. The show tries to examine the limits of human ability to achieve ultimate knowledge, and the price for doing so.
WHO CAN POSSIBLY FATHOM THE ENORMOUS COMPLEXITY OF THE UNIVERSE?
THE HUMAN MIND CAN ONLY TRY TO PENETRATE IT.
The play is inspired by a true series of meetings between Professor Albert Einstein and Doctor Immanuel Velikovsky and on letters and manuscripts exchanged between the two.
Translated from English and Directed by – Nabi Abdurakhmanov
Set Designers – Nabi Abdurakhmanov, Vassa Vasileva
Costume Designer – Vassa Vasileva
Composer – Albert Khalmurzaev
Video design for the production is done by Eugeniy Fuzulov's company
«FZfilms - Theatre & show stage visual» http://fzfilms.ru/
CAST:
Immanuel Velikovsky – Obid Abdurakhmanov
Albert Einstein – Albert Khalmurzaev, Khasan Salikhov
The play opened in Tashkent (Uzbekistan) on April 28th, 2015
The play opened in Vladimir (Russia) on June 15th, 2016
Duration of the show is 2 hours, intermission ingluded.
Iddo Netanyahu is an Israeli playwright, author and physician. Among his books is Yoni's Last Battle, an account of the 1976 Entebbe rescue, Itamar K., a political and social satire of Israel, and a book of short stories, The Rescuers.
His play A Happy End has been shown world-wide and was recently staged in New York to critical acclaim. His Worlds in Collision is having its world premiere in Tashkent by the Youth Theatre of Uzbekistan. I.Netanyahu lives in Jerusalem and divides his time between writing and working as a physician.
Iddo Netanyahu: In writing “Worlds in Collision”, I tried to examine the limits of human ability to achieve ultimate knowledge, and the price for doing so. Einstein, one of the two characters in the play who revolutionized our understanding of the universe, gained great fame, whereas Velikovsky, the second character in the play who tried to do so in a different way, gained infamy. Why the difference? Such and other questions contained in the play have always intrigued me.
In one of their meetings, sitting opposite each other, Albert Einstein commented to Immanuel Velikovsky that the exact spot in the universe their chairs were then occupying was maybe a coincidence, but not their meeting: it wasn't possible, he said, that their paths would not cross.
Immanuel Velikovsky (1895-1979) - a doctor and psychoanalyst, creator of unconventional theories in history, geology and astronomy. His book “Worlds in Collision” created a stir among the scientists of the time. His “Ages in Chaos” laid out a revisionist chronology of mankind's history and questioned long-held assumptions about it.
Albert Einstein (1879-1955) - theoretical physicist, one of the founders of the modern theoretical physics, Nobel Prize laureate in physics of 1921, humanist and Zionist. He resided in Germany, Switzerland and the United States of America. He was awarded honorary doctorates in approximately 20 universities around the world and was a member of numerous Academies of Science.
Einstein is the author of more than 300 scientific works in physics and about 150 books and articles about history, philosophy, and current events.
Having discovered the Theory of Relativity, which revolutionized mankind's understanding of the universe, Einstein spent the rest of his life trying to discover the grand “master key” to the universe and prove his Unified Field Theory.
From the interview with Nabi Abdurakhmanov: «The greatest desire of a scientist or any human being is to comprehend the ultimate plan of God».
Regina Gottfried, theatre critic, Germany: “The text is so very strong… The audience is left with a wondrous feeling of having touched the world of genius… A priceless and unique experience in the art of theatre.”
Tatyana Osina, Professor, Tashkent: “An innovation in the art of theatre…”
Members of the National Oil Research Institute: It was with great pleasure that we took in your premiere of "Worlds in Collision". It’s been a very long time since we’ve been so overwhelmed. We watched it with bated breath, afraid even to stir ever so slightly so as not to miss a reply, a phrase, a glance, a facial expression, and a movement of the actors – so much were these things thought-out and inter-connected.
This was an extraordinary and fascinating production!
Thank you so much for this original play and the tremendous staging – which are relevant to today – and for the splendid costumes and set. Thanks also for the extraordinary play of light and music on stage – these too were protagonists of the show and an integral part of it. We too, in the audience, were participants of the show, being addressed directly by the protagonists. It caused us to search in ourselves and in our souls the answers to the questions put before us, questions that came up about our life and our existence, which unfortunately we could not find the answers to.
Huge thanks for the enormous pleasure we got, for our being touched by your art. Once again, many thanks for such a heart-breaking show and for the talent of the actors!
