The Lightest Element

Stella Feehily

Summary

'Nothing compares with being the first person in the history of the world to see something, but timing is everything. The world has to be ready for you.'
Boston, 1956. Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, one of the most eminent astronomers of the twentieth century, is about to be appointed Chair of Astronomy and the first woman to head a department at Harvard University. Only two things stand in her way: a covert investigation aimed at exposing her as a Communist sympathiser, and the entrenched conservatism of her male colleagues.
When a student journalist asks to profile her, it feels like an opportunity to control her own narrative – assuming, of course, that the invitation is actually what it seems…
Stella Feehily's play The Lightest Element is a taut drama exploring how a challenge to social norms can be almost as difficult as overturning scientific orthodoxy. It premiered at Hampstead Theatre, London, in 2024, directed by Alice Hamilton.

Available since: 09/12/2024.

Print length: 80 pages.

Poetry & Theatre

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Seamus Dever as Larry Murdoch

Fang Du as The Translator

Greg Germann as Richard Warren

Belinda Gosbee as Amanda Carlson

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Mardy Ma as Deputy Minister Gao Shengwei

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Josh Stamberg as Marshall McLaren

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Joanne Whalley as Jane Bollman

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