Arts Major Bang
posted by on November 4 at 14:08 PM
Dear All of You Who Are Considering Standing in the Rain to Get Tickets to the Sold-Out Major Bang Or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Dirty Bomb at On the Boards:
Don’t.
Dear All of You Who Have Tickets but Are Considering Skipping the Show:
Don’t.
Dear All of You Who Don’t Have Tickets but Have the Option to Sit in a Dry Place with a Drink and a Good Conversationalist While Waiting to See if You Can Get In:
Yeah, okay. That sounds reasonable.
Major Bang is nominally about David Hahn, the real-life Boy Scout who, in 1994, built a nuclear reactor in a shed using bits of radioactive material from smoke detectors and old clocks with glow-in-the-dark paint. The story expands into a meditation on (of course) terrorism and dirty bombs and Dr. Strangelove and our newfound fear of abandoned backpacks in public areas. The actors are great (and delightfully nimble, falling in and out of characters from Lenny Bruce to a sexually charged boss at an irradiation plant), the script is mostly smart, and the magic (yes! card tricks, rope tricks, sleight of hand) is mostly successful. Major Bang is inventive and entertaining. It’s fun. But it leans too heavily on its ideas about Life During War-on-Terror-Time to justify its existence—unfortunately, those don’t take you anywhere you haven’t already been.
David Hahn didn't create a nuclear reactor. He tried to create a breeder reactor (which is different), and succeeded only in contaminating his mother's potting shed to the point that the state had to conduct a cleanup.
The story is impressive enough on its own -- why embellish the facts?
Not as impressive as this kid, who built a working fusion reactor from spare parts purchased in junk stores. Added side benefit: no radiation!
And if you don't already have a ticket to OTB, I'd recommend walking in the rain over to Central Cinema (www.central-cinema.com) to check out the ORIGINAL "Dr. Strangelove: Or How I Learned To Stop Worrying And Love The Bomb." Runs through tomorrow. And they have beer. And pizza.
Oops. You're right, Mouse. Sorry.
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