Link: Science Friday Archives: The Farnsworth Invention.
In this segment, Ira talks with Des McAnuff, director of the play ‘The Farnsworth Invention,’ with Jimmi Simpson, the actor who plays the role of Farnsworth in the play, and with Hank Azaria, who plays the role of David Sarnoff.
And here’s a link to the audio archives of the broadcast. About halfway through the discussion, the actors and director address the historical details, calling the play "100% truthful and 80% factual."
I suppose it’s nice to finally hear somebody closely associated with they play try to justify it’s mishandling of an important historical story. But it also seems to me that the play is more like 50% truthful ,because the 20% they got wrong was, like, the whole story (Farnsworth the victor, not the vanquished).
It’s interesting, though, to hear these principals dismiss the distortions with the idea that their characters admit that they are "unreliable."
Portraying a point of history dramatically, and then declaring "maybe it didn’t happen that way…" Wouldn’t it be better to just portray the way it DID happen?