THE LIGHTEST ELEMENT - HAMPSTEAD THEATRE

Writer - Stella Feehily
Director -  Alice Hamilton
Set & Costume Designer – Sarah Beaton
Lighting Design – Johanna Town
Sound Design – Harry Blake
Movement – Michela Meazza
Video -  Zack Hein
Costume Supervisor – Kate Hemstock
Assistant Director - Olivia Monk
Photography – Mark Douet

“Sarah Beaton's set design is a triumph of minimalism and functionality. The almost bare stage, reminiscent of the vastness of space, is brought to life by a revolving platform that serves multiple purposes. This device not only facilitates smooth scene transitions but also seems to symbolises the celestial movements central to Cecilia's research."

West End Best Friend

“On Sarah Beaton’s set, an observatory-like curved strip of video screen covers the entire back of the top of the stage, upon which video designer Zakk Hein’s animated scrawls of equations, fields of stars and solar eclipses play out like watching mid-twentieth-century news reels in a darkened cinema. There’s a sense of grandeur in these between-scene moments – of the ‘why’ and not just the struggle."

-Time Out

"Sarah Beaton’s sparse, visually striking set features a concave screen wrapped around the stage, on to which flowing projections by Zakk Hein are displayed throughout. Sometimes we watch the slow orbits of constellations, or the walls crowd with scribbled notes and diagrams. A large revolve slowly spins the actors between scenes, suggesting the passing years as Payne-Gaposchkin’s career develops."

- The Stage

"Sarah Beaton’s curved set is reminiscent of an observatory or planetarium making for a more immersive experience, and the revolving stage is a clever solution for moving the action from cafes to offices to boardrooms."

-Fairy Powered Productions