Mike Daisey

I am fortunate enough to have a lovely and caring wife who, when hearing from a colleague at work rave about a show he caught at Joe's Pub at the Public Theatre a couple of weeks ago, thought it would be my cup of tea and bought tickets.

We had a nice dinner, a good bottle of wine and watched Mike Daisey perform his one man show, If You See Something, Say Something.

From his website:

In this groundbreaking monologue, Mike Daisey tackles a story at the heart of our world today: the surprising, secret history of the Department of Homeland Security. This is woven together with the untold story of the father of the neutron bomb—called “the perfect capitalist weapon” for the way it kills civilians while leaving cities and industries intact—and a pilgrimage to the Trinity blast site, where atomic fire rewrote history a half a century ago and ushered in an age of American supremacy. Combining damning fact and searing personal history, Daisey takes us on a journey through the dark heart of America, in search of answers for what it means to be secure, and the price we are willing to pay for it.

It was an amazing performance. Daisey is a master storyteller and kept us riveted for a hour and fifty minutes without an intermission. Just Daisey at a desk, interweaving the story of his trip to Los Alamos, the site of the Trinity blast, and the inventor of the neutron bomb Sam Cohen and his friend turned adversary Herman Khan.

Daisey is playing at Joe's Pub through November 30th, and if you get the chance, you shouldn't miss it.

You can also read his blog here.

(Correction: a previous incarnation of this post said the show was an hour and ten minutes long. It was actually a little short of two hours - so make sure you pee before the show begins.)