BBC World Service, 27 September 2009
This biodrama of the atomic scientist Richard Feynman (Alfred Molina)
focuses on the public and private aspects of the man - a genius who was virtually unmanageable either at school or university,
a dedicated researcher tormented by guilt for not looking after his parents when young, and a devoted family man who frequently
shut himself off from human contact while engaged in research.
Rosalind Ayres' production cleverly juxtaposed past and present aspects of Feynman's
life to suggest that such contradictions remained essential to understanding him. Like all geniuses he could not be conveniently
pigeonholed: one had to accept the rough with the smooth. Alfred Molina, a versatile actor if ever there was one (not many
people can play Tony Hancock and Harvey Torritti, the enfant terrible of the CIA in the TV series The Company
with equal conviction), seemed ideally cast, using a variety of vocal tones to suggest Feynman as a young and an old
man.
