2008 Woodie Awards
Ed Metzger: The Practical Bohemian
Amanda Upton
Issue date: 11/7/05 Section: Entertainment
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On Tuesday, November 1, the Office of Co-Curricular Education and Programs sponsored a performance in honor of the 100th anniversary of the Theory of Relativity. Ed Metzger dressed up as Albert Einstein and spoke of his life as both an important scientist and as a family man.
When the play started the first thing that I noticed were the shoes. He came out dressed up in clothes that had been fairly worn in, i.e. the shirt had a few minor holes. And the shoes looked brand new! Personally I think of Einstein as a thinker - someone who spent a good amount of time pondering scientific ideas. I would not expect his shoes to look brand new.
Einstein was portrayed as a somewhat confused intellectual. He spoke of one thing, and then he would completely forget what was going on. In addition to his confused mental state, he occasionally threw in a couple of jokes.
One thing that I thought was interesting was when Einstein mentioned how he used to go sailing on the Saranac River every year. He brought up the fact that his wife would not let him go without having a haircut.
The play ended following a radio announcement that the atomic bomb was dropped on August 6, 1945. The audience was left with Einstein's impression of complete shock and sadness upon hearing this. He had the lead role that lead up to this point in time.
Overall, I thought that the play was alright. It seemed to me that it didn't follow a chronological order. He spoke of being at his wife's deathbed and then later on went to talk of the times he went sailing and how his wife would yell after him to let her cut his hair before venturing off.