The Love Song of J. Robert Oppenheimer
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Lilith appears to Oppenheimer after he’s noticed that his theoretical physics killed quite a few actual people. If she were a figure of evil, as she’s often been represented, this would make sense: the creation of a destructive power puts him in touch with another destructive power. But Kreitzer seems determined to redeem Lilith, and so she makes this mythic figure ambiguous if not sympathetic. Is the playwright suggesting that Oppenheimer’s work is like female sexuality, simply another great power feared because it’s misunderstood? It’s a strange equation that makes the scientist’s crisis of conscience almost ridiculous. But if they aren’t being equated, why are they sharing a stage?
There are hints in the text that Kreitzer is fascinated by these two figures because both are associated with Judaism. During the panel discussion she mentioned that this play was her first opportunity to explore her own heritage, and the script smacks of someone encountering the tropes of Jewishness for the first time; veteran Jews have usually gone beyond references to chosen people, the desert, homelessness, and self-hatred. None of these things was news to Oppenheimer–Kreitzer even suggests that his determination to build the bomb was fueled by his awareness of what happened during the Holocaust.
When: Through 3/6: Thu 7:30 PM, Fri-Sat 8 PM, Sun 2 PM.
