''A Disappearing Number'' is a 2007 play co-written and devised by the Théâtre de Complicité company and directed and conceived by English playwright

Simon McBurney Simon Montagu McBurney (born 25 August 1957) is an English actor, playwright, and theatre and opera director. He is the founder and artistic director of the Complicité, Théâtre de Complicité, London. He has had roles in the films ''The Manch ...

. It was inspired by the collaboration during the 1910s between the pure mathematicians

Srinivasa Ramanujan Srinivasa Ramanujan Aiyangar (22 December 188726 April 1920) was an Indian mathematician. Often regarded as one of the greatest mathematicians of all time, though he had almost no formal training in pure mathematics, he made substantial con ...

from India, and the

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209, the University of Cambridge is the List of oldest universities in continuous operation, wo ...

don G.H. Hardy. It was a co-production between the UK-based theatre company Complicite and Theatre Royal, Plymouth, and Ruhrfestspiele,

Wiener Festwochen The Vienna Festival (Wiener Festwochen) is a culture festival that takes place in Vienna for five or six weeks in May and June every year. The Vienna Festival was established in 1951, when Vienna was still occupied by the Participants in World W ...

, and the Holland Festival. ''A Disappearing Number'' premiered in Plymouth in March 2007, toured internationally, and played at The Barbican Centre in Autumn 2007 and 2008 and at

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 ...

in July 2010. It was directed by

with music by

Nitin Sawhney Nitin Sawhney (; born 1964) is a British musician, producer and composer. A recipient of the Ivor Novello Lifetime Achievement award in 2017, among multiple international awards throughout his career. Sawhney's work combines Asian and other ...

. The production is 110 minutes with no intermission. The piece was co-devised and written by the cast and company. The cast in order of appearance: Firdous Bamji, Saskia Reeves, David Annen, Paul Bhattacharjee, Shane Shambu, Divya Kasturi and Chetna Pandya.

Plot

Ramanujan first attracted Hardy's attention by writing him a letter in which he proved that :

1+2+3+\cdots = -\frac\ (\Re)

where the notation

(\Re)

indicates a Ramanujan summation. Hardy realised that this confusing presentation of the series

1 + 2 + 3 + 4 + ⋯ The infinite series whose terms are the positive integers is a divergent series. The ''n''th partial sum of the series is the triangular number \sum_^n k = \frac, which increases without bound as ''n'' goes to infinity. Because the sequence of ...

was an application of the

Riemann zeta function The Riemann zeta function or Euler–Riemann zeta function, denoted by the Greek letter (zeta), is a mathematical function of a complex variable defined as \zeta(s) = \sum_^\infty \frac = \frac + \frac + \frac + \cdots for and its analytic c ...

\zeta(s)

with

s=-1

. Ramanujan's work became one of the foundations of

bosonic string theory Bosonic string theory is the original version of string theory, developed in the late 1960s. It is so called because it contains only bosons in the spectrum. In the 1980s, supersymmetry was discovered in the context of string theory, and a new ve ...

, a precursor of modern

string theory In physics, string theory is a theoretical framework in which the point-like particles of particle physics are replaced by one-dimensional objects called strings. String theory describes how these strings propagate through space and intera ...

. The play includes live ''

tabla A ''tabla'' is a pair of hand drums from the Indian subcontinent. Since the 18th century, it has been the principal percussion instrument in Hindustani classical music, where it may be played solo, as an accompaniment with other instruments a ...

'' playing, which "morphs seductively into pure mathematics", as the ''

Financial Times The ''Financial Times'' (''FT'') is a British daily newspaper printed in broadsheet and also published digitally that focuses on business and economic Current affairs (news format), current affairs. Based in London, the paper is owned by a Jap ...

'' review put it, "especially when … its rhythms shade into chants of number sequences reminiscent of the libretto to

Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...

's ''

Einstein on the Beach ''Einstein on the Beach'' is an opera in four acts composed by Philip Glass with libretto in collaboration with Robert Wilson (director), Robert Wilson, who also designed and directed early productions. The opera eschews traditional narrative in ...

''. One can hear the beauty of the sequences without grasping the rules that govern them." The play has two strands of narrative and presents strong visual and

physical theatre Physical theatre is a genre of theatrical performance that encompasses storytelling primarily through physical movement. Although several performance theatre disciplines are often described as "physical theatre", the genre's characteristic aspe ...

. It interweaves the passionate intellectual relationship between Hardy and the more intuitive Ramanujan, with the present-day story of Ruth, an English maths lecturer, and her husband, Al Cooper, a globe-trotting Indian-American businessman "to illuminate the beauty and the patterns – the mystery – of mathematics."Jeff Lunden, "'A Disappearing Number': A Vivid Theatrical Equation"
''NPR Morning Edition'', 15 July 2010 It also explores the nature and spirituality of infinity, and explores several aspects of the Indian

diaspora A diaspora ( ) is a population that is scattered across regions which are separate from its geographic place of birth, place of origin. The word is used in reference to people who identify with a specific geographic location, but currently resi ...

. Ruth travels to India in Ramanujan's footsteps and eventually dies. Al follows, to get closer to her ghost. Meanwhile, 100 years previously, Ramanujan is travelling in the opposite direction, making the trip to England, where he works with Hardy on maths and contracts tuberculosis. Partition (as a maths concept) is explored, and diverging and converging series in mathematics become a metaphor for the Indian

Awards and nominations

* 2007 Critics' Circle Theatre Award for Best New Play * 2007 Evening Standard Award for Best Play * 2007 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play

References

External links

Complicite official website

''A Disappearing Number'' at the Barbican
{{DEFAULTSORT:Disappearing Number 2007 plays Laurence Olivier Award–winning plays West End plays Mathematics and culture Srinivasa Ramanujan English plays Plays based on actual events Plays set in the 1910s Plays set in England Plays set in India Indian diaspora in the United Kingdom Plays about race and ethnicity University of Cambridge in fiction

Plot

Awards and nominations

References

Further reading

External links