Long before Copenhagen became synonymous with a climate change accord, it was the site of a brief, mysterious meeting between two nuclear physicists, a meeting that may have changed the course of World War II.

That 1941 reunion between Germany’s Werner Heisenberg and occupied Denmark’s Niels Bohr, student and teacher, protégé and mentor, surrogate son and father figure, is the subject of Michael Frayn’s 2000 Tony Award-winning memory play, Copenhagen. While it has only three characters, the two scientists and Bohr’s wife, Margrethe, it is as epic in its scope and as heady in its issues as its atom-smashiing topic demands.

In short, it is the kind of theatrical challenge that only Palm Beach Dramaworks would take on, rewarding audiences willing to lean in and listen hard.

Frayn sets the play in the afterlife, a vantage point from which the characters try to recollect that fateful September day, now knowing their action’s consequences. At Dramaworks, this three-way debate is played out on Michael Amico’s faux-marble scenic design, suggesting perhaps a waiting area outside the courtroom of public opinion.

Why did Heisenberg go to Bohr’s home, what information did he impart, why was their meeting so short and what caused the breakdown in their close friendship? In search of solutions, Frayn has his characters act out the meeting three times, three different “drafts” of what might have transpired.

Among the possible motives is Heisenberg’s curiosity about the Allies’ progress in building an atomic bomb. Or perhaps he was digging for information that would aid Germany in building a similar weapon of mass destruction. Whatever his reason, there seems to be a direct line from the meeting to Germany abandoning its nuclear program. It was the dawn of the atomic age, when both scientists felt compelled to gain all evolving knowledge, but then had to grapple with its application.
By necessity, a fair amount of physics is discussed during the evening. Since Margrethe keeps insisting the others explain matters in a way that she — and by extension, we — can understand, the technical talk is relatively simplified.

Still, it can be dry and intellectual, more of a mind game than emotionally engaging. And while Frayn could undoubtedly explain why each line is crucial, at two-and-a-half hours the play feels overlong and in need of editing.

What makes the experience compelling are the three verbally adept performers. Colin McPhillamy (Bohr), a dead ringer for Tom Wilkinson, is understated and parental compared with excitable, impassioned Heisenberg, played by Christopher Oden.
Challenging them to clarify their thinking is the wily Elizabeth Dimon as Margrethe, a skeptical inquisitor.

Remarkably, director J. Barry Lewis manages to keep this talkathon from being static, moving his cast like chess pieces about the stage with an unforced hand. And if you look for it, their movements resemble the charged particles of an atom.
While there is a similar puzzle construction in Frayn’s most popular work, the farce Noises Off!, Copenhagen is hardly escapist entertainment. But if you are up for an accelerator chamber’s worth of high-speed ideas, by all means head to Palm Beach Dramaworks.

R E V I E W
Copenhagen

B

Where: Palm Beach Dramaworks, 322 Banyan Blvd., West Palm Beach.

When: Through Jan. 31.

Tickets: $42-$44. Call: (561) 514-4042.

The verdict: A talky, cerebral memory play in which three World War II figures try to sort out events that led to the conflict’s explosive endgame.