An upcoming show by the Bermuda Musical and Dramatic Society should attract high school pupils from across the island, its director said.

Sheilagh Robertson will oversee Copenhagen, which opens this month and brings together Danish and German scientists during the Second World War.

She said: “This is a play that should appeal to senior high school students who are interested in science and history.”

Ms Robertson explained: “Basically, the plot revolves around a meeting in 1941 with the Danish atomic physicist Niels Bohr and the German nuclear physicist Werner Heisenberg.

“Now, Niels Bohr received a Nobel Prize in physics back in 1922. Werner Heisenberg, after he graduated from university, went to Copenhagen and worked with Niels Bohr for three years — that was the early 1920s.”

She added: “Heisenburg also won a Nobel Prize in 1932.

“During the meeting things were discussed relating to nuclear research — nobody really knows for sure what they discussed and it has been a subject of controversy ever since.”

At a time when the atomic bomb was being developed, the play highlights the characters’ work together in Denmark prior to the war and the infamous meeting in 1941 that lead to the demise of Bohr and Heisenberg’s friendship.

Ms Robertson, who was born in England and raised in Canada, reflected on the gravity of the topic in relation to her own childhood.

She said: “When I was a teenager in the 1960s, I visited a model bomb shelter at my local shopping centre in Canada, and people were promoting the building of home bomb shelters.

“This was the era of the Cold war, the Cuban missile crisis and concerns about the fallout from atmospheric testing of nuclear weapons.”

She added: “Today, there are nuclear power plants all around the world with the ever-present threat of another Chernobyl or Fukushima disaster.”

A resident of Bermuda since the 1970s, Ms Robertson was always interested in theatre and drama.

She said: “I’ve always been involved in music. I’m actually a flautist. I’ve played in the Bermuda philharmonica for years.”

Ms Robertson became involved in theatre in her forties after taking a drama workshop.

She then auditioned and was cast for a BMDS production, Arsenic and Old Lace, and “never really looked back”.

Ms Robertson’s experience as a director also includes Doubt — A Parable in 2023, Veils in 2019 and several Famous for 15 Minutes plays.

The BMDS production of Copenhagen features a three-person cast: Owain Johnston as Niels Bohr, Brendon Fourie as Werner Heisenberg and Christine Whitestone as Margrethe Bohr.

“It’s a serious play but Owain, Brendon and Christine are doing a fabulous job of bringing it alive,” said Ms Robertson.

The production is presented by arrangement with Concord Theatricals Ltd on behalf of Samuel French Ltd.

• Copenhagen will run from February 22 to 24 and February 29 to March 2 at the Daylesford Theatre. Tickets, for $35, will be available from tomorrow onptix.bm