An Experiment With an Air Pump February 23, 2007

'An Experiment With An Air Pump' by Shelagh Stephenson is a daring and darkly humorous play about the past and future of science and society. Set in a large house in Newcastle Upon Tyne, the story unfolds on the eve of two new centuries in 1799 and 1999. Using Joseph Wright's painting entitled 'Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump' as a backdrop, the play juxtaposes the lives of two families in societies on the brink of major change.