An Experiment With An Air Pump by Shelagh Stephenson and Photograph 51 by Anna Zeigler both feature in a festival of ‘science plays’ being held in Orlando, Florida this weekend. Mad Cow Theatre are giving rehearsed readings of four plays under the overall direction of Denise Gillman between 10th and 12th of January.
Photograph 51 deals with Rosalind Franklin’s oft overlooked contributions to the discovery of the structure of DNA in 1953 and is named after the famous X-ray crystallography photo that provided vital evidence for the breakthrough.
An Experiment With An Air Pump uses Joseph Wright’s 18th century painting of an enlightenment scientist giving a demonstration to entranced onlookers as inspiration for a play set over two time periods.
An adaption for of Bill Bryson’s book A Short History of Nearly Everything by Lauren Gunderson and Lucas Hnath’s play about Isaac Newton, Isaac’s Eye, complete the bill of four staged readings.