Engineering / Chemistry: “The Half-Life of Marie Curie,” at the Black Box Theatre through September 28

The Half-Life of Marie Curie takes us back to 1911, and a world in which even the greatest women can be handily undermined by their personal lives. Sound familiar? Written by Lauren Gunderson and now enjoying a wonderful Black Box Theatre presentation, this show is a dramatization of the real-life friendship between two pioneering scientists: Marie Curie (Jessica White), the Nobel Prize-winning physicist and chemist, and Hertha Ayrton (Pam Mautz Cantrell), a British engineer, mathematician, and suffragette.

Gunderson's story unfolds after Curie’s affair with a married man becomes a public scandal, threatening her career and reputation. Over the course of the play, Marie and Hertha reflect on their achievements, personal sacrifices, and the challenges they face as women in science and as early-20th-century women period. This is not just a historical reenactment, but a study in friendship, resilience, and the emotional toll of brilliance in a society not built to support it.

I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from director Lora Adams' piece, but was pleasantly surprised to be swept away into the artistry of the experience. Both White and Cantrell begin the show with opening monologues, quickly and cleverly orienting the audience. So lest you, too, be unaware of either of their characters' attributes or scientific contributions, you don’t have to wait long to hear about them. These monologues do a fine job of grounding us in who these women are, what they value, and how the world sees them.

I particularly liked that each character introduced her science by way of a sound effect, courtesy of designer Doug Kutzli. The sound of a half-life – an eerie, ticking, humming pulse – follows Marie throughout the evening, punctuating scene changes and blackouts nicely. It’s both literal and symbolic: the slow decay of radium, and the slow erasure of a woman’s legacy by scandal. This motif helped the show maintain a sense of momentum and mood, especially during its quieter, more introspective scenes.

On Friday’s opening night, the lights, designed by fellow Reader reviewer Alexander Richardson, seemed a bit off at the get-go: The first scene featuring both actors left Cantrell in the dark. Based on how the lights played out for the remainder of the 90-minute one-act, I’ll assume it was a cue gone wrong rather than a deliberate choice, and fortunately, it didn’t set the tone for the evening. I appreciated how Richardson employed smaller, more focused lighting for the monologues and saved the broader, sweeping stage lights for when the women were together, be that in France or at Hertha’s seaside escape. The effect created an emotional intimacy that mirrored the shifting dynamic of the characters, and the clever set, built by James Driscoll and Michael Kopriva, further supported this intimacy. Leave it to Adams to again find a show that presents perfectly in the Black Box’s cozy space.

Cantrell immediately exudes warmth and likability. I admit, I had never heard of Hertha Ayrton before this production, but I imagine Cantrell did her a great deal of justice. I now wish I had a friend who wanted to save me from the perils of society and whisk me away to her summer home by the sea. (Why is it that no one prescribes sea air anymore?) Throughout The Half-Life of Marie Curie, Hertha was everything one hopes for in a friend: caring and kind, but with the ability to cut to the chase when needed. After all, don’t we all need a bit of tough love from time to time? Cantrell’s performance captured all of this with grace, nuance, and just the right dash of sharp wit.

White had the more difficult job, to be sure; most people, after all, know who Marie Curie is. Yet White never seemed to falter. Employing a subtle accent and a demeanor that conveyed both intellectual power and physical vulnerability (thanks to her ever-present vial of radium), White delivered a compelling and deeply human portrayal of the famed scientist. Gunderson’s fictionalized tale gives White a lot of emotional weight to carry – public scrutiny, personal grief, illness – but she does so with apparent ease and quiet dignity.

While individually, both White and Cantrell are strong, together, they are brilliant. One particular scene, in which the women share a bottle of whiskey, humanizes both Hertha and Marie in a way that makes them more relatable than ever. Here, the actors hit every joke with expert timing and seem so at ease with each other that it’s truly as though, as audience members, we're also briefly interlopers on their friendship.

This specific scene allows us to see the people they're playing not just as historical figures or scientific icons, but as relatable women, and I was especially impressed by how their fierce friendship was portrayed on stage. In a story in which much could be made of public disgrace, illness, and loss, Gunderson's play wisely centers not on tragedy, but solidarity. That feels like a powerful reminder that everyone needs a good friend in their corner. The Half-Life of Marie Curie was an altogether surprising and beautiful peek into the world of the famed scientist, and I wholeheartedly recommend it.

The Half-Life of Marie Curie runs at the Black Box Theatre (1623 Fifth Avenue, Moline IL) through September 28, and more information and tickets are available by calling (563)284-2350 and visiting TheBlackBoxTheatre.com.