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“The History and Mystery of the Universe” is a fascinating, mind-expanding one-man play based on the life, work and writings of 20th century American spiritual and technological guru R. Buckminster Fuller.  

An import which originated at the San Diego Repertory Theater, written and directed by D.W. Jacobs, and performed by Ron Campbell, the play opened Wednesday at the Lorraine Hansberry Theater in San Francisco, produced by Foghouse.com, an offshoot of Z Space arts collective. 

“The History and Mystery of the Universe” takes the form of a two-and-a-half hour lecture in which the eccentric, inspired and ingenious R. Buckminster Fuller talks about his life, and explains his work directly to the audience. 

Though the show runs too long, and bogs down in overly familiar and repetitious political analysis near the end, it is a very important play and will be of interest to any person who gives thought to the big problems that human beings face moving into the new millennium on a planet filled with both beauty and conflict. 

A fascinating and inspired mix of science, technology, philosophy, history, politics, and economics, in this play Fuller basically asks the question, “Why are we here?” and then proceeds to find the answer. Along the way he hits many other big questions. 

Fuller shares his ideas with the audience in the context of his own life, his own growth, and his own personal discoveries. 

Born in New England in the late nineteenth century, Fuller was kicked out of Harvard as a young man for cutting classes. After several failed attempts at business, and the death of a young daughter, the 32-year-old Fuller contemplated suicide. 

In losing his way in life, Fuller had an epiphany. Admission of failure, he says, is the point at which humans begin to understand the mysteries of the universe. He then spent two years in near silence rethinking everything he had been taught. 

An interdisciplinary creative thinker in the areas of physics, cosmology, engineering technology, philosophy, architecture, automotive design, history, politics and economics, Fuller set out explicitly to bridge the chasm between humanity and science, and find the unifying structure that unites physical and metaphysical reality. 

It is hard to communicate the impact of his work and thinking in a short review. One of the ways this play is successful is in bringing the richness and ingeniousness of Fuller's thought to life in a simulation of one of his lectures. 

Fuller's discovery of the triangle as a fundamental structure of the universe, for example, and his demonstration that one plus one equals four (meaning that two triangles comprise a tetrahedron), is fascinating. 

This leads to Fuller's discovery of the geodesic dome, and his perception that pulsing transformations among the tetrahedron, octahedron and icosahedron describe the phenomenology of the universe. 

Got that? Well, he makes it clear in the play. 

The polarities between tension and compression, convexity and concavity, and protons and neutrons, lead Fuller to further key understandings. You will also understand that if you go see the play. 

In addition to the geodesic dome, Fuller invented a very energy-and-human-friendly house and car. A central theme to Fuller's thinking is synergy. 

Fuller also has fascinating takes on human history, and the stages of evolution that humans have passed through historically. 

The weakest part of this play, however, is the final section dealing with politics. Counterculture political analysis is well-known by now, and after the substance that has gone before, Fuller's political pep talk at the play's end is anti-climactic. 

The evening, running about two and a half hours including an intermission, is long. Shortening the play by a half hour would increase its impact.  

Jumping from armchair to blackboard to overhead projector to illustrate his ideas, actor Ron Campbell turns in an eccentric, energetic, hyperactive, angular performance as Fuller. 

In Annie Smart's set design, there are six or seven distinct spaces on the lecture stage. Transitions in thinking are effectively punctuated by designer David Lee Cuthbert's effective blue and green lighting. 

Composer Luis Perez's electronic music helps create emotional depth at key moments when the physical and the metaphysical become one. 

Buckminster Fuller was one of America's leading spiritual and social visionaries. If you enjoy pondering the meaning of human existence, and the mysteries of the universe, you will enjoy this play. 

“R. Buckminster Fuller: The History (and Mystery) of the Universe,” runs Wednesday through Sunday, through August 13, at Lorraine Hansberry Theater, 620 Sutter Street (at Mason), San Francisco. For information or tickets, call (415) 392-4400, or visit the website (www.foghouse.com).