Stella – review

http://www.theguardian.com/stage/2013/sep/18/stella-review

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You have probably heard of William Herschel, the 18th-century astronomer credited with discovering Uranus. But what about his sister, Caroline? She was a gifted singer who kept house for her brother, helped him in his work, both as a composer and astronomer, and still managed to find the time to discover eight comets and 11 nebulae, and painstakingly map the skies. Yet like so many female scientists of earlier eras, she often only appears in the history books as a footnote to the life and work of a man.

Invoking the spirit of Hypatia of Alexandria, the 4th-century scholar of mathematics and astronomy, murdered by Christian fanatics who feared her knowledge, Siobhan Nicholas's ambitious play hops between the 21st and 18th centuries, as well as the UK and the Arab spring Egypt of 2011, as it probes the ever-shifting role of women as thinkers, scientists, wives and mothers.

The estimable Kathryn Pogson plays Jessica, a radio astronomer, whose daughter is in Egypt as the Tahrir Square demonstrations gather momentum. Jessica's husband, Bill, has recently accepted a job in Hamburg and wants his wife to accompany him. As Jessica researches Caroline's life and discovers crucial pages missing from Caroline's diary, she begins to understand how much that devoted sister gave up for her brother. Hundreds of years on, have we made as much progress as we think?

The reclamation of women's history is admirable, there is much to enjoy in the clever entwining of theatre and science, and the final moments in which the characters gaze into space and the future has undeniable emotional clout. But the structure of the piece is schematic and the use of a mobile phone as a plot device is clumsy. The unsympathetic Jessica is less interesting and realised than the much put-upon Caroline – played by Nicholas – a woman living on the margins and yet leaving her mark through the stars.

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