Theatre Review - The Lightest Element
Mark Douet In 1925 British astronomer and astrophysicist Cecilia Payne (Maureen Beattie) claimed that the stars are made of hydrogen and helium. Her PhD advisor, Henry Norris Russell (Julian Wadham), head of Princeton Observatory, disagreed. Four years later he reached the same conclusion. Stella Feehily’s historical drama explores Cecilia’s career over five decades and the prejudices of the time. In 1956, Cecilia (now Payne-Gaposchkin after marriage to a Russian) is one of the world’s most eminent astronomers. Feehily focuses on Cecilia’s desire to be appointed Chair of Astronomy and become the first woman to head a Harvard department. But she has to surmount attempts to expose her as a communist sympathiser, and the sexism of her male colleagues. When student journalist, Sally Kane (Annie Kingsnorth), requests an interview, Celia assumes it is an opportunity raise her profile. But Sally has been coerced by her boyfriend (Steffan Cennydd) to discover whether Cecilia and her hu