An Experiment with an Air Pump

by Shelagh Stephenson

In 1799, on the eve of a new scentury, the house buzzes with scientific experiments, furtive romance and farcical amateur dramatics. 1999, and in a world of scientific chaos, cloning and genetic engineering, the cellar of the same house reveals a dark secret, buried for 200 years.

Genres: Plays, Classics, Theatre, School, Drama, Historical Fiction, Read For School

96 pages, Kindle Edition

First published October 29, 1998

About the author

Shelagh Stephenson was born in Northumberland and read drama at Manchester University. She has written several original plays for BBC Radio. These include Darling Peidi, about the Thompson and Bywater murder case, which was broadcast in the Monday Play series in 1993; a Saturday Night Theatre, The Anatomical Venus, broadcast in the following year; and Five Kinds of Silence (1996), which won the Writer's Guild Award for Best Original Drama. Her first stage play, The Memory of Water, opened at the Hampstead Theatre, London, in July 1996, and her second, An Experiment With An Air Pump, joint winner of the 1997 Peggy Ramsay Award, opened at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester, in February 1998. Also Life is a Dream, and Through a Glass Darkly in 2004.

Reviews

[Anne · Rating 2 out of 5]

In which scientists in 1799 discuss science and the young ladies of the house put on a play in which a young maid with a deformed back is disguised as a sheep. Also rape.

Of all the uninspiring plays out there to make us read to practice designing costumes, they had to pick that one.

[Laura · Rating 3 out of 5]

From TIA:
A psychological thriller set on the eve of a new century in 1799, in the house of scientist and political radical, Joseph Fenwick. The play probes the moral political certainties central to our history over the last two centuries and wryly questions our continually evolving imperatives as we enter the new millennium.

https://archive.org/details/Experimen...

[Diana H. · Rating 4 out of 5]

Don’t sleep with someone just to observe their scoliosis, kids

[Leta · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful examination of what progress is and how we acquire knowledge and the whether what is gained is worth the price paid. Can cold, clear-eyed data be harvested without stripping the harvesters of their humanity if the data comes from the corporeal parts of other people? Should it? Are the dead merely so much meat, now void of purpose except where the can contribute to biological knowledge? Or are their bodies our last link to their souls? Are the "not yet born" souls waiting offstage, just as much a part of the brotherhood of humanity as those already here? Or collections of cells, holding information for the benefit of all?

Often compared to Arcadia because of the device of having people in two time periods, Air Pump asks different questions. While Arcadia is interested in how much we can trust what we learn, Air Pump is interested in how we learn it.

[💚❤️♥️dreaming_away☺️ · Rating 4 out of 5]

I actually liked even tho for school

[Persephone Gray · Rating 3 out of 5]

Had to read this for school. Characters are a bit one faceted. I really enjoyed the themes, and expected a lot better for the execution.

I am pretentiously tainted by love of Shakespeare, so that may be the issue there, though. I liked the references to Shakespeare. Otherwise, this would be two stars.

[Meghan Barrett · Rating 5 out of 5]

Read the review here: meghan-barrett.com

An Experiment with an Air Pump is a play written in 2000 by British playwright Shelagh Stephenson, inspired by the painting 'An Experiment on a Bird in the Air Pump, a 1768 oil-on-canvas by Joseph Wright of Derby (picture below).

Stephenson writes what is, so far, my favorite science play. Grappling with two times frames, one in 1799 and one in 1999, she uses a singular house to draw incredible parallels between the morals, actions, and goals of the two groups of people that lived there. Stephenson manages to craft incredible concise, impactful dialogue as she works with twice the time and cast of characters as a typical show.

Stephenson follows the cast of characters making up Wright's painting in the 1799 scenes, with young lovers, writers, scientists, and family members all playing a role. In the 1999 scene, we follow scientist Ellen and her husband Tom, owners of the home, as they work on selling off the property and discover a dead body hidden under the stairs (presumably one of the 1799 characters).

An Experiment on a Bird in an Air Pump by Joseph Wright of Derby, Public Domain
This murder-mystery sort of appeal gives the play a lot of suspense, and the clever dialogue between Phil, the 1999 handyman, Ellen, Tom (a humanities professor), and Kate (a scientist with shaky moral principles) all combine with the slower, more direct 1799 dialogue to paint one complete, no-loose-ends picture by the end of the play. Even better, Stephenson chooses to focus on stem-cell research and gene therapy, both looming as big ethical discussions in the very near future.

Every time I pick up this play, I feel like I've discovered something new Stephenson has done to make me question everything I know - about the links between science and art, the morality of the scientist, the dangers and benefits of scientific progress, and the nature of humanity, with our history creating our present. If I could recommend a play to get you hooked on the science-drama fusion, my friends and followers this would be it.

The dialogue is excellent, the plot is fast-paced and intriguing, but it's the way Stephenson weaves parallels between the two environments to teach us about scientific ethics that really turns the play from good to unforgettable. Stephenson writes the suicide note for science, leaving a dire warning about what happens when we continue to pursue science with no ethical considerations. The play is masterful, managing to bleed you emotionally and mentally dry each time you read it and yet leave within you the desire to come back for more. And perhaps it is this exact feeling of wonder, curiosity - rapture - that Stephenson inspires in her writing that is the very essence of her warning about science.

[dan · Rating 5 out of 5]

(read for a level course)
i’ve seen lots of bad reviews about this play and it’s probably a different experience when you are a member of the audience and not a reader, but jesus christ was this good. i really, really loved this play— it binds together themes of religion (can never go wrong with that can you), science, morality, sexuality, and the role of women in such a clever way that it could almost go over your head if you didn’t look closely enough.

the ellen/fenwick and susannah/tom parallels had me literally shouting because i loved how they were done. ellen wanting to be fenwick (the scientist!) and struggling with ethics he wouldn’t have even considered in the 18th century? genius!

the monologue in the prologue is going to stick in my mind for quite a bit. wow. amazing stuff seriously

[Bookthesp1 · Rating 5 out of 5]

Shades of Stoppards Arcadia but a great play in its own right- catching the millennial moment in two time frames (1799 and 1999) and dealing with science and what it is to be human with all its complexity and nuance...also both funny, wise and touching- great characters and atmosphere.

[latya · Rating 5 out of 5]

“it seems to be a condition of existence to resist an idea of reality when it threatens a tradition of mystery.”

[Paula · Rating 5 out of 5]

An Experiment With An Air Pump is devastating and dark but also life-affirming and often very funny. Having Peter Mark Roget (yes, the Thesaurus guy!) as a character often provides comic relief. The examination of ethical problems that arise during quests for scientific advancement is forever timely. As one scientist, Ellen, explains, “You can’t not pursue something. You can’t say the road might have complications, so I won’t go down it. Once you know something, you can’t unknow it.” Ellen’s colleague, Kate, takes this even further: “I want to eat up the world. I want to tear it apart and see what it’s made of.” Without giving any details so as not to spoil the many surprises in this play, I’ll simply say the jumps between 1799 and 1999 are compelling and beautifully done. Why Shelagh Stephenson isn’t wildly famous is baffling. She’s a brilliant playwright.

[tshegolovesreading · Rating 1 out of 5]

the organization of this book shows Stephenson mastery in narration and vacillating time period drama, however the jumble and mess of the social criticisms she tries to bring about are cleary seen.
too many issues raised, almost makes your head spin.
science,murder,romance…what else?
Too many is what I’ll tell you!

[Cave Empter · Rating 3 out of 5]

Strong dialogue mostly and some interesting characters, but could do with more focus on one side of its two timelines. As-is, there's an attempt to give equal weight to the conclusions, which only serves to leave them unfulfilling and disjointed.

[John Geddie · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting and I do love discussions about science, but the bouncing from 1799 to 1999 left me not caring much about either set of characters.

5m/6w (doubling), multiple locations but not written for a realistic set.

[Kevin · Rating 5 out of 5]

A very quick read, a very good play.

[Peyton High · Rating 4 out of 5]

had to read this for class but it was a fun time to be honest! fuck armstrong fr

[Abhyuday · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was such a ride, rather disturbing (there is a character with a deformity fetish) but the switch between past and present with the house as the connecting symbol was very nice

[Hira · Rating 3 out of 5]

The plot was kind of all over the place.

[Haley]

Isobel: I know twenty-seven words for what I am, sir.

[samodivachka · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ah, yes, to science or not to science, that is indeed the question.

Also science as a form of revolution is the philosophy I shall practice from now on.

[Lara · Rating 4 out of 5]

I'm so glad we studied this for my literature course. So many parallels, allusions and hidden metaphors. Truly a fascinating and thought-provoking read.

[Kallista · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad

[ayesha · Rating 5 out of 5]

pretty good

[b1t · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice play. Great play a must read

[Mak Williams · Rating 4 out of 5]

4/5, what a twist!

[Kristin · Rating 4 out of 5]

Creepy. Would make a great Twilight Zone.

[barbara!! · Rating 4 out of 5]

i forgot to put when we actually finished lmao

this is just for my reading goal.

[annabel · Rating 5 out of 5]

When Kant said we were living in the Age of Enlightenment he reckoned without the existence of Percy Fellows.

[Reece Carter · Rating 4 out of 5]

This play was a call to reevaluate the morality of our drive for scientific progress. What is ethical? How far are we as scientists willing to go? While asking these poignant question, Stephenson also does a startling job of showing how much (and how little) progress we have made over the course of a century. The moral questions this play begs make up for the so-so dialogue and over-the-top actions of some of the characters.

[Molly]

Reminds me a lot of Stoppard's Arcadia. Love them both.