Oxygen

On an evening in October 1774, Antoine Lavoisier, the architect of the chemical revolution, learned that the Unitarian English minister, Joseph Priestley, had made a new gas.

Play title: Oxygen

Author (s): Carl Djerassi, Roald Hoffman

Publisher: Wiley-VCH

Publication Date: March 5th, 2001

Genre: Drama

Primary Discipline: Chemistry

Scientist (s): ANTOINE LAURENT LAVOISIER, JOSEPH PRIESTLEY, CARL WILHELM SCHEELE

Source Texts: Unknown

Character Breakdown: 4 men, 3 women

Antoine Lavoisier, Marie Lavoisier, Joseph Priestley, Mary Priestley, Carl Wilhelm Scheele, Sara Pohl, Court Herald

Setting: Stockholm

Time Period: 1777

Synopsis of Play: On an evening in October 1774, Antoine Lavoisier, the architect of the chemical revolution, learned that the Unitarian English minister, Joseph Priestley, had made a new gas. Within a week, a letter came to Lavoisier from the Swedish apothecary, Carl Wilhelm Scheele, instructing the French scientist how one might synthesize this key element in Lavoisier’s developing theory, the lifegiver oxygen. Scheele’s work was carried out years before, but remained unpublished until 1777.

First Performance Date: April 2, 2001

First Producer: San Diego Reparatory Theatre

Performance History: A Workshop Production of 10 performances was staged by the Eureka Theatre in May 2000, San Francisco, CA.

Review Links:

http://www.roaldhoffmann.com/oxygen-reviews

http://www.roaldhoffmann.com/oxygen-reviews-irish-times

http://www.roaldhoffmann.com/oxygen-reviews-los-angelos-times

http://www.roaldhoffmann.com/oxygen-reviews-angewandte-chemie

http://www.roaldhoffmann.com/oxygen-reviews-c-e-news

http://www.roaldhoffmann.com/oxygen-reviews-nature

http://www.roaldhoffmann.com/oxygen-reviews-evening-standard

http://www.roaldhoffmann.com/oxygen-reviews-theatreworld-internet