The Proof Stage

“The Proof Stage is a revelation. It is a brilliant addition to the field of theater and science that will appeal to both theater scholars and mathematicians, as well as the general reader and theatergoer, whether math-savvy or mathematically-challenged. We are in the best of hands as Abbott takes us on a journey through theater’s engagement with mathematics over the past century and shows us, with clarity, warmth, and wit, how playwrights have been using math to create deep meaning as well as great performances. Abbott is that rare combination: a mathematician who is also a theater-maker, and the ideal guide to help us find out, as he so eloquently puts it, ‘what meaningful relevance pure mathematics can have to the flesh-and-blood business of a life on earth.’ He provides ground-breaking analyses of plays by Beckett and Stoppard, whose love of mathematics naturally puts them center-stage in Abbott’s book; he also shines new light on theater’s enfant terrible Alfred Jarry, looks at a raft of plays relating to Alan Turing, considers works by Frayn, Durrenmatt, and McBurney, and reveals the mathematical thread running through dozens of other works for the stage. This book is a must-read for anyone interested in theater and science as well as in interdisciplinarity more broadly, and in the question of how seemingly unrelated knowledge domains interact and speak to each other to generate new ideas and new ways of understanding the world.”

“A wonderful backstage pass to the mathematical ideas that have inspired some of the great works of theatre in the last decade.”

“Theater and mathematics might seem like entirely separate enterprises, but in this lucid and graceful book Stephen Abbott shows that this is not the case. He makes a convincing argument that theater, more so than other art forms, is especially well-suited to presenting mathematical ideas. A wonderful achievement!”

“The complementarity of paradigm shifts in science and culture is a theme of infinite fascination. In this remarkable book, Stephen Abbott examines the mathematics of a new theater: the translation of non-Euclidean geometry, quantum relativity, and Turing machines into the aesthetics of the stage.”