Farm Hall

Farm Hall photos

Farm Hall description

It is Summer 1945: Hitler is dead, but the war in the Pacific rages on. The Allies have detained six of Germany’s leading nuclear scientists – including three Nobel Prize winners - at Farm Hall, a country house just outside Cambridge. They entertain themselves with some redacted newspapers, a broken piano and a copy of Noël Coward's Blithe Spirit. But their tranquil summer is shattered by the news that the Americans have succeeded where the Germans failed. The United States has not only built an atom bomb, but has used one against Japan. Unbeknownst to the scientists, during their stay, every inch of Farm Hall was bugged and their every action recorded. This play is inspired by the true events that took place at Farm Hall between July 1945 and January 1946.

The superb ensemble cast bringing this extraordinary true story to life include David Yelland (The Crown, Chariots of Fire, Poirot), who plays the role of Max Von Laue; Alan Cox (Say My Name, Mrs Dalloway, Housewife, 49) plays the role of Werner Heisenberg. Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker is played by Daniel Boyd (On Chesil Beach, Tiger House); Forbes Masson (EastEnders, Catastrophe), plays the role of Otto Hahn. Julius D’Silva (The Crown, The Ten Commandments), plays the role of Kurt Diebner; Archie Backhouse appears as Erich Bagge. An associate artist with Complicité, his recent stage credits include Strategic Love Play with Paines Plough and The Wonderful World of Dissocia at Stratford East.

Playwright Katherine Moar studied history at the University of Edinburgh and Darwin College, Cambridge. She is currently studying for a PhD at King’s College London. Farm Hall is her first play.

Stephen Unwin is an award-winning British theatre and opera director and has directed more than 50 plays and operas. In 1993, he founded English Touring Theatre, for whom he directed more than 30 productions, many of which transferred to London. He was Artistic Director of the new Rose Theatre in Kingston from 2008 to January 2014.

Playing at Theatre Royal Haymarket

8 Haymarket, London, SW1Y 4HT GB (venue info)

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