May 4-11 2005 TIME OUT LONDON

PHALLACY

New End Theatre

Carl Djerassi’s arts-versus-sciences detective yarn begins with a lecture: Regina Leitner-Opfermann, a specialist in classical antiquities, is expounding the aesthetic perfections of a Roman statue of a youth in her collection. When the subject of material analysis is raised, she declares the question ‘dull’—unaware that a team of chemists led by Rex Stolzfuss is about to use information relating to the proportions of trace metals found in the statue’s bronze to prove that her beloved Roman boy is in fact a Renaissance fake, or at best a copy.

“Phallacy” is the latest of eminent chemist Djerassi’s ‘science-in-theatre’ plays. Suggested by a true story, the piece is packed with fascinating scientific and art historical facts, but is at its best dramatically when it concentrates on academic satire—armed with his devastating findings, ‘cocksure’ Rex begins by claiming that he wants to be ‘collegial’ but soon sets out to prove that Regina is not only scientifically ignorant but art-historically incompetent too. The slow-moving sixteenth-century flashback adds little to the interest of the piece, however, and the handling of the battle-of-the-sexes strand of the story—both chemists are male, both art historians females—lacks sureness of touch: the sub-plot concerning the angle of fall of the statue’s penis provides the evening with a slightly limp climax.

And Jordan production has some nice performances—fans of ‘Monarch of the Glen’ will want to catch Hamish Clark in slouchy, affable boyish mode as Rex’s assistant Otto.

Robert Shore