Some people might say that Auburn has used a cliché: a character reminiscent of mathematician John Forbes Nash, Jr., whose life was, sort of, depicted in the film, A Beautiful Mind, and in the novel of the same name, both based on a true story. Or that Auburn might have had in the back of his mind the more sinister Unabomber, Theodore Kaczinski, who terrorized American scientists for years. He is perhaps the extreme example of the mathematical genius gone awry, someone in a state of extreme psychosis in which he can no longer distinguish right from wrong.

Not all dedicated mathematicians end up mentally deranged. Albert Einstein is proof of that although he had his eccentricities. He was actively involved in the creative process of mathematics until old age without succumbing to mental illness. But, as one who has a brilliant mathematician in the circle of her acquaintances—a female mathematician, which is relevant to Auburn's play—I can honestly say that as individuals these seekers of truth through mathematical formulae are not like us ordinary human beings with our mundane skills. We rely on common sense and social skills to get us through life. Dedicated mathematicians can solve the mysteries of the universe, but they are usually unable to put order into their lives with simple solutions, and they generally have underdeveloped social skills. They are what some would call nerds to the extreme, and I do not mean to use this term in a derogatory way. After all, as a writer I also fit into the category of nerd.

Auburn has written a four-character play which features a father, who was once a brilliant mathematician, but who has a mental breakdown and is no longer able to work in his field. His youngest daughter has inherited her father's mathematical gifts, but after only one year of university finds herself having to look after her ill father, and so gives up her studies. Her sister, the older daughter, escapes from their Chicago home and enters into a career in New York. A no-nonsense person, who likes to be in control, she is, nevertheless, quite content to let her sister carry the burden of their father's life. The fourth character in this play is a young mathematician, a former student of the professor, who is not only smitten with his youngest child, but also honours him for his brilliance in his earlier life and for having helped him when he had problems with his masters thesis. The only thing one wants to add to the story—for I do not believe in revealing all—that the youngest daughter fears she may have inherited not only her father's gift, but also his madness.

If this theatre review were actually a quiz with a reward for answering questions, I wonder how many of its readers will actually be able to identify who Theano is or was, or for that matter Hypatia, and for what these two persons became famous. Of course, because this is the review of a most marvelous play by the name of Proof, the answer will be supplied right here. Theano, the wife of Pythagoras, was also a great mathematician whose most important work was that she gave us the principle of the Golden Mean. Hypatia lived in 4^th century AD Alexandria. She also happened to be a famous mathematician and astronomer. She expanded and explained Apollonius's work on the idea of conic sections, and such great mathematicians as Descartes, Newton and Leibniz expanded on her work more than a 1,000 years later.

So what has that to do with David Auburn's play that opened last night (Oct. 3) at the Bluma Appel Theatre at the St. Lawrence Centre? Nothing in a direct sense, and much in an indirect one. Their names never come up in the play, although another famous woman mathematician does, namely Sophie Germain, a Frenchwoman, who besides opening up the way for others to go on proving Fermat's Last Theorem, also laid the foundation for the modern theory of elasticity. There are many other women, whom we should know as great mathematicians, but because this is still even today considered a realm in which men are supreme, we know little about them. Who, for instance, knows that Florence Nightingale was not just a nurse, but laid the foundation for applied statistics in her effort to prove that deaths in the hospitals could be reduced with the improvement of sanitation? And while we all know the poet, Lord Byron, how many people know of his daughter, Ada? She developed a plan for Babbage's famous calculating machine that is now seen as the first computer program created a century before the modern computer came into being.

All this is just to emphasize that Proof is a play that touches on a very sensitive issue for women without being a polemic. It is a well-written, well-observed piece of drama, with the right touch of humour here and there, thus making a serious subject very palatable for us all, including mathematicians.

The CanStage production offers some excellent performances in a well-staged production. Tamara Bernier is perfect as the brittle, no-nonsense elder sister, Claire. Young Vancouver actress Jennifer Paterson is delightful, if that is the right word, as younger sister Catherine. In her often intense interpretation of Catherine, she captures not only the youthful nature of the character and her angular, somewhat socially retarded manner, but also the fears and doubts that she has to fight to draw closer to Hal. This young man is portrayed by Matthew Edison with the right touch of nerdiness. The father, Robert, is played by Hardee T. Lineham with conviction and much sympathy for the character.

The set, a decaying old house near the University of Chicago, and the lighting design by Phillip Silver add much to the atmosphere of the production. It is beautifully and clearly directed by Martha Henry. Allan Wilbee's costumes complete this well-staged effort that is eminently worthwhile seeing.

e e e e e

Proof has been turned into a 2005 film with the Oscar winning actress, Gwyneth Paltrow, in the role of Catherine and Jake Gyllenhaal as Hal as the student, who woos and wins her. Anthony Hopkins plays the father, and Hope Davis is Claire, Catherine's sister. The movie makes its North American premiere at the Toronto International Film Festival this September.