NHB Modern Plays
1 total work
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 Harvard department. 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 taut drama The Lightest Element explores how challenging social norms can be almost as difficult as overturning scientific orthodoxy.
It is premiered at Hampstead Theatre in September 2024.