“Einstein’s Gift”is the story of one of Germany’s most brilliant—and abused—scientists. He was Jewish, a Nobel Laureate and divorced. And no, I don’t mean Albert Einstein. These are just a few of the similarities between the play’s namesake and its main subject, one Fritz Haber, ”who risked everything for a country that never accepted him, but used his work to murder millions.”

Yeah, you read right. Remember learning about the Second Battle of Ypres in World War I? You know, the one where the Germans used chlorine gas for the first time, against Canadian soldiers? And I’m sure you’ve heard of the gas chambers of the Holocaust. One of the tools used to murder millions was a little pesticide called Zyklon B. How did all this happen, you ask?

Well, good old Fritz had this notion that science wasn’t good enough for its own sake; it had to have a practical use and application. What he seemed unable to comprehend was that knowledge in the wrong hands still has the potential to be used for evil.

Now known as the Father of Chemical Warfare, the world has largely forgotten that chemist Haber helped avert mass starvation from overpopulation by discovering a way to fix nitrate. How he went from hero to villain is the subject of “Einstein’s Gift.” The cast and crew were kind enough to let Yours Truly screen a rehearsal, so I have a review for you, dear Meliorist readers.

On a Spartan set, with blood-red lines denoting the end of one floorboard and the beginning of the next, a man in a sweater appears and says, “Was a time…” So begins Ben McFee’s narration of the play as Albert Einstein, the junior (in years) genius of the friendship. Even without lights, the lines drew me into the story, as he tells of a time when “the world’s equation made sense.” We watch Haber get baptised as a Christian to aid his advancement in academia, and from the beginning it is clear that science is Haber’s god as well as his tool. “It must serve the betterment of mankind,” he keeps repeating.

Marty Blank turns in a solid performance as the stubborn and increasingly arrogant Haber, who was such a nationalist that he believed wholeheartedly in the rightness of creating chlorine gas. Nevertheless, Blank manages to give the nuances of a man torn between what he believes and what he knows, and he and Vanessa Adams work well together as the scientist and his first wife, Clara, a chemist in her own right. Adams brings out Clara’s strength and exudes the quiet confidence required of a woman who completely rejects the gender stereotypes of her day.

By contrast, Gabrielle Duncan exudes sexuality as Lotta, Haber’s second wife, whom he met when she was a Girl Friday. Lotta’s malleability is clear, giving a clue as to why Haber chose a much younger woman to marry in his later years. Clara was always an equal partner in their marriage and would not be led; she even went so far as to commit suicide after the first successful release of chlorine gas.

Mark Spracklin gives a good turn as a German soldier perturbed by the presence of Haber in the trenches; Joshua Corbin is both convincing as General Daimling and chilling as Nazi Education Minister Rust. Most compelling, however, was Curtis Gallagher as Haber’s research assistant Otto, who aids and furthers career Haber’s career at every turn until a sudden falling out, after which he joins the Nazi party. From friend and confidante to adversary and anti-Semite, Gallagher makes a 180-degree shift in the course of the play without once losing his dramatic footing. Kudos.

Director Mike Sanger obviously quite likes the script, since he told me he would not direct something he truly loves. Sanger is ably supported by Robin Jabusch as assistant director, costume designer Jolane Houle, set designer Suzanne Lavoie and stage manager Nichole Dube. I’m sure Rachel Northcott, light and sound designer, did a great job too; it’s just that the rehearsal was so early that it didn’t make use of those talents. Yet.

Some blocking was off, some lines were flubbed, the German sometimes made this native-speaker cringe and some were shaky on their pins in their roles, but I still came away from the rehearsal feeling touched by this long-dead man’s story of past versus future, materialism versus pragmatism, nationalism versus faith and science—above all, science. Einstein and Haber obviously had a treasured, though—typically German– formal friendship. While they often disagreed, at the end of Haber’s existence, it is Einstein who gifts him with his sense of self rediscovered. Blank and McFee have excellent chemistry, and their scene was so moving, it made me cry (even without the lights and sounds of a finished production).

In the end, “Einstein’s Gift” is a moving morality play that raises some interesting questions: should we stop thinking for fear of the harm new ideas might lead to? Must those who first conceive the idea be held responsible for how it is used? Is science the answer to all of our problems and questions? Decide for yourself. “Einstein’s Gift” runs Thursday through Saturday at 8:00 pm, with a matinee on Saturday at 2:00 pm. Tickets are $7 student/senior and $11 regular, available at the Box Office (329-2616).