But while a knowledge of quantum physics might help your appreciation of Frayn's Copenhagen, it works just as well without because this multi-layered play asks so many questions, not just the one around which it was written - why did Werner Heisenberg visit Niels Bohr in the Danish capital in 1941?
Everything is in Copenhagen - love and death, patriotism and betrayal, morals and ethics, the role of men and women and much more besides.
It is a superb play but it has to be performed by an equally superb cast - and it is.
Although there are only three parts, it is the relationship between Bohr and Heisenberg, both leading physicists, which gives the play its zeal and portent. The role of Bohr's wife Margrethe acts as a framework and as the calming note in the midst of huge passions.
The play centres on the visit by Heisenberg, the celebrated German physicist, to Bohr, his mentor yet living in a country under German rule, two years into World War Two.
Rory Byrne as Bohr and Steve Cunningham as Heisenberg have taken on hugely-demanding roles, not just in terms of the length of time they are on stage but also in expressing the fervour which translates into suspicion and disbelief of two men who held the fate of the world in their hands.
The play is performed in the round and their interaction on a stark set of just a table and three chairs makes you feel like an eavesdropper. Both actors bring passion, pathos and drama to their parts, not just in the words they speak but in their body language and attitude. They must be exhausted at the end of every performance.
Margaret Metcalf is the character whose part holds it all together - as Margrethe who has typed up so much of her husband's work, she brings a layman's understanding to huge concepts and lays them on a plate for the audience.
She also depicts the role of a woman married to a genius who has suffered much tragedy in her life and has always been in a supporting position even though her husband could never have achieved what he did without her.
Yvonne Harding directs this wonderful piece of theatre which runs until Saturday and has set a new benchmark for the Company of Ten.
Any remaining tickets can be obtained from the box office on 01727 857861.
MADELEINE BURTON
© Herts Advertiser 2007. Reproduced by permission