A play about women and astronomy by Siobhán Nicholas

In ancient civilisations, temple priestesses meticulously mapped the heavens, seeking to understand their gods. And so Astronomy was born.<

This is a story of Time and Space: two women astronomers, Jessica Bell from the C21st and Caroline Herschel from the C18th look up at the same night sky and find themselves colliding in their search for understanding. Caroline longs for a family and home of her own; Jess contemplates the prospect of losing both.

Each woman can precisely map her position in the universe yet she struggles to find her place in the world.  
“ the audience choked on the bared emotions and the wonderment of people seeing deep space for the first time”The Guardian, John Vidal at Paines Plough for STELLA’s public reading.

Initially inspired by Jocelyn Bell’s children of star stuff analogy, we saw a fundamental link to the Herschels’ interest in stellar astronomy and their study of cosmology.  Setting out to “measure” Deep Space, they came to understand that the destruction of a star “ is perhaps the very means by which the whole is preserved and renewed”  They also understood that through a powerful telescope, the astronomer peers not just into deep space but into the past itself

Cast:  Chris Barnes; Kathryn Pogson; Siobhán Nicholas
Direction: Chris Barnes {with Polly Irvin}
Design: Gus Munro
Producion Mentor: Judith Hibberd
Production Manager: Neal Mcbride

STELLA is funded by Arts Council England, Science and Technology and Facilities Council and The Institute of Physics