Juniors Sam Hacker and Mabel Scott rehearse a scene from “The Half-Life of Marie
Curie” in the Wyatt Hall Black Box Theatre.
By: Julia Watson
Bellarmine’s theatre department will present “The Half-Life of Marie Curie” beginning Sept. 29.
The play by Lauren Gunderson explores the friendship between scientists Marie Curie and Hertha Marks Aryton in the early 1900s.
Associate professor of theatre Megan Burnett directs the production, with lighting design by Nick Dent, sound design by Dr. Zack Ross and costume design by Donna Lawrence-Downs.
The show stars Bellarmine juniors Mabel Scott and Danie Miner as Marie Curie and junior Sam Hacker as Hertha Aryton.
“I was looking for a play where I could focus on a smaller cast and focus on an acting challenge,” Burnett said. “Someone had recommended Lauren Gunderson’s plays over Christmas break, and I was immediately caught up in the story of the friendship between these two women.”
Burnett said she was fascinated by the relationship between the scientists.
“At times they laugh, at times they fight, and at times they are brutally honest with each other,” she said. “They are able to come back together and realize they are the friend they need. We don’t have enough of those stories.”
Curie won two Nobel Prizes, one for physics and another for chemistry. She discovered radium and polonium and coined the term “radioactivity.” However, according to Burnett, not enough people know about Aryton.
“When I started to ask the question to some scientists on campus, few of them had heard of Hertha Aryton, even the mathematicians,” Burnett said. “So I went, ‘Okay, this is it. We’re going to introduce these women to everyone on campus.’”
Scott said the most enjoyable parts of the show reflect the characters’ relationship.
“Their friendship is so natural. It’s really fun to perform. It’s a very fun environment, and it’s a very challenging role which I’ve enjoyed,” she said.
Scott said she likes the show because it is so focused.
“It’s not like anything I’ve ever played before,” Scott said. “The entire show is very microscopic in its lens. It’s very specific, and it’s not that wide-ranging.”
She is excited to make people cry, too.
“Whenever we’ve done table reads, there are a few scenes at the end that are real tear-jerkers. I have never not cried reading those scenes,” she said.
Hacker said she enjoyed making stronger connections with her costars and with the characters themselves.
Hacker said: “It’s a very small and closer cast because it is just a two-woman show. It has given me and my other cast members a chance to not get to only know each other better but dive deeper into the relationship between Hertha Aryton and Marie Curie.”
The technical features are also a very important aspect of the show, particularly the lighting design. Burnett asked Dent to look at the work of a dancer and lighting expert, Lois Fuller. Fuller was Curie’s friend who used fabric, special rods and lighting to create her unique performances.
“She would use lighting designs that she created to light her (Fuller) as she moved around the stage,” Burnett said.
Fuller’s lighting designs created images such as creatures coming out of the ocean and turning into a phoenix burning in the air, Burnett said.
Burnett was inspired by Fuller’s work and wanted to carry that through the set elements she designed.
The use of wicker furniture was also an important aspect of the show to create the desired effect.
The play takes place on a beachside home on the English Channel during the summer, and Burnett used wicker furniture because it allows for air and light to pass.
Burnett said she wanted the set to “feel summary, open, and airy.”
“We wanted to feel as if we could hear the ocean at any time but also to feel the movement of the light through the space,” she said.
Sydney Packard was also supposed to portray Aryton, but a knee injury sidelined her.
Hacker will now play Aryton for both casts.
“So far we’re doing fine,” Burnett said. “But, if something happens to her (Hacker),
we’ll be in trouble.”
“The Half-Life of Marie Curie” can be seen in the Wyatt Hall Black Box Theatre Sept. 29 to Oct. 1 and Oct. 6 to Oct. 8 at 7 p.m. Performances will also occur on Oct. 2 and 9 at 2 p.m. Tickets cost $10 for general admission and $7 for students, seniors and groups of five or more.
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