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Friday 15 July 2011

The Farnsworth Invention by Aaron Sorkin

The Farnsworth Invention open on Wednesday 13 July at the New Theatre in Newtown.  I have to say from the outset that I invariably come away impressed with the performances that the New Theatre. The staging, lighting and sound are always excellent; not to say the rest of the attributes are not, but it is just not always recognised how important these are in making a good production into a great production.
The set for this performance just set the scene so perfectly, the music was a joy to listen to, particularly during the interval. 
Aaron Sorkin at the age of 28 won the John Gassner Awared as Outstanding New American Playwright for A Few Good Men. His most recent feature film screenplay is The Social Network, for which he won an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. There are similarities in the story between The Social Network and The Farnsworth Invention.
Philo Farnsworth was a genius scientist who came up with the idea of the electronic television while he was still at school! The story of what happened and how the first television and radio productions came about is fascinating, well it is thanks to Aaron Sorkin, who has managed to make the story into a great play.  He playfully mixes it up with storytelling and scripted scenes. He cleverly makes the audience feel involved and throughout the performance you would hear people call out in agreement.




The acting in the production is very good particularly from Patrick Connolly who plays David Sarnoff and Damian Sommerlad who plays Philo Farnsworth. They are the central roles in this play and they really pull it altogether. I must mention Ruben Neeson who plays the Young David Sarnoff, he is only in year 8 and his whole role was in Russian!
The Farnsworth Invention is playing until 13 August, book now to go and see it if you haven't already. You will learn a lot as well as having an enjoyable night out.

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