Holden Street Theatre. 12 Feb 2014
When thinking of Albert Einstein, "funny" is not a word which comes to mind. Unless John Hinton has been playing with the great physicist.
Last time he was in Adelaide, Hinton was in the guise of Charles Darwin. He loves, it seems, to play with facts and very clever men. But, is he a teacher, an actor, a singer or a comedian? Those are the questions.
As Einstein and wearing braces and very big hair, Hinton comes across as every student's dream teacher. This show is pretty much a theoretical physics lesson embellished with partial biography and some added theoreticals about how the man may have felt about this and that.
Hinton plays with the knowledge, demonstrating theories by using living audience members as props. It is surprisingly effective. Happening upon drama students who are not a bit reluctant to go onstage was a major bonus for his first performance. They turned those audience participation segments into fairly jolly improv. Acting students should be compulsorily provided for all such shtick.
For this show, Hinton brings a charming accompanist who plays his wives as well as the keyboard. He turns theories into songs and comic routines, and even indulges in some serious contemplation. The audience gets to vote (or does it?) on who should develop the nuclear bomb and it is here that the show takes a rare slow moment, to encompass Einstein's regrets.
Hinton rolls the clock to and fro, very successfully turning the Theory of Relativity into a rap song. Here there's complete audience participation as everyone learns how to sign MC2 with their hands, rapper style.
Einstein ages via a bottle of talc, his black hair tossed with talc for the grey effect and then soused for the whiter years. With a bit of good lighting, that talc can make a few clever emphases, too.
Hinton has worked hard to make a lot of silliness out of seriousness and to impart the scientific erudition along the way. He is strong of voice, corny of accent and lithe of body.
It's all lots of clever fun.
Samela Harris
When: 15 Feb to 16 Mar
Where: Holden Street Theatres – The Studio
Bookings: adelaidefringe.com.au
