Review: The Lightest Element (Hampstead Theatre)

Review by Sam Waite

⭐️⭐️

An astronomer and astrophysicist, Cecilia Payne opted to leave England after completing her studies at Cambridge, dismayed with the knowledge that they would not present a post-graduate degree to a woman and her only viable career would be as a teacher. Completing her PhD studies at Harvard, Mrs Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin would eventually become the first female Chair of any department at the university. A quaker-turned-agnostic with a Russian husband who their marriage helped to leave Nazi Germany, it seems only logical that her life be mined for drama, as Stella Feehily has attempted in Hampstead Theatre’s The Lightest Element.

Feehily’s script spans around five decades of Professor Gaposchkin’s life, from her graduate studies at Harvard to her gaining yet another prestigious prize late in her life, lingering mainly on the days leading up to her appointment as Chair of The Department of Astronomy. While members of the board prepare to plead their cases for and against the appointment, bright young journalistic hopeful Sally Kane has won her first big assignment in interviewing and profile Gaposchkin for The Harvard Crimson. Sally, meanwhile, is being pressured to lean the conversation more political, encouraged by her beau Norman to fish out any hints of communism for a mysterious contact.

To begin with the good, Maureen Beattie is stellar as the firm and intelligent professor, giving Gaposchkin a sense of both pride and of determination – it’s easy to believe that this is a woman who has thought for a place she had earned decades prior, though admittedly there is an awkwardness to her scene as the 25-year-old version of the character. Forthright but never at the expense of a believable humanity, Beattie is otherwise perfectly cast in a role calling for a very carefully placed humour alongside a palpable sternness. Also winning is Rina Mahoney, as the Professor’s assistant, confidante, and guard dog Rona Stewart, equally as formidable and with a real flair for a cutting one-liner.

For the most part, the rest of the cast make little impression – it’s partly down to their lesser stage time, and partly due to a lack of much to do when they are there. A fun group dynamic is formed when the board actually gathers to debate, but the energy built during their discussion has nowhere to go with this happening so late in the story and these characters making no appearance afterward. Annie Kingsworth makes a bigger impact as Sally, particularly in the lengthier scenes between her and Beattie, with whom she shares a strong and fluid chemistry – in fact, the entire production may have benefited from centring itself entirely around the profile’s creation, so much more interesting is the exposition and emotional weight being built from these scenes. Unfortunately, that same chemistry is absent elsewhere, making the turbulent nature of her relationship with Norman less compelling than perhaps it should be.

The script relegates the more exciting elements of its subject’s life – brash political debates held on campus, a somewhat-mistaken effort at neutrality backfiring, building rumours of communist leanings, her work being stolen by a mentor who’d attempted to reject her ideas – to background occurrences, mentioned alongside her career achievements and rarely dwelled on. A fascinating dichotomy could develop around Cecilia’s outspokenness in most areas of her life, but her lack of outwardly-stated political views and reluctance to publicly declare that the research proving the makeup of the stars was in fact her own – but it doesn’t, and like the FBI subplot with Norman hunting for information simply falls into the background.

Sally suffers a similar fate, her scandalous (for the time, mind you) history being revealed to the audience but the threat of wider exposure quickly defeated later in the performance. Perhaps this secret loses some of its impact for being relevant only in her scenes with Norman, while its presence as a counterpoint to Cecilia’s own life could have given it more weight. As it stands, Alice Hamilton’s production comes to life only when its central figure takes to the stage, and Sally becomes a much more compelling, much more nuanced character when engaging with this powerful woman, a mentor for a Sally who never quite was. There is, however, a gorgeous fluidity to Hamilton’s work, using Sarah Beaton’s minimal, revolving set to blend scenes seamlessly into one another and keeping a solid pace through these swift, impressively smooth transitions.

Zakk Hein’s video design proves to be a highlight of The Lightest Element, using the overhead screens to link the brief transitions into the celestial theme of Cecilia’s life and work, creating delightful imagery of the stars as well as chalkboards overhead to create the lecture theatres of Harvard University. The stage is completely bare upon the audience’s arrival, Hampstead’s main space playing the role of a lecture hall which Cecilia and Rona enter from the stalls, and often the visual splendours Hein provides above the stage add a dynamism and attractiveness that the simple set-pieces rotated on and off as required could lack.

Focusing on a fascinating woman, The Lightest Element has some moments that are genuinely compelling and worthy of her legacy, but unfortunately stumbles in others. Boosted by the strength of Maureen Beattie’s performance, this bio-play shows definite potential, but the current iteration is too vaguely-drawn, too unclear on what it wants to say about Professor Gaposchkin and the career she fought tooth and nail for the really capture the determined spirit that won her such accolades.

The Lightest Element plays at Hampstead Theatre until October 12th

For tickets and information visit https://www.hampsteadtheatre.com/whats-on/2024/the-lightest-element/

Photos by Mark Douet