Aether was the substance that was believed to be the invisible medium that carried the fifth element, light, through the universe. From ancient Greek times until Einstein repudiated it and now it’s simply a quaint historical footnote.

But it’s the foundation of this excellent exploration of enlightenment by the four-strong Theatre Goose who have previously brought ‘Her Green Hell’ and ‘Sisters Three’ to the Fringe.

We follow Emma Howlett’s clever stories of five women, starting in the present day with our central protagonist, a Cambridge University PhD student of physics, Sophie, before reeling back in time to ancient Greece to describe the contributions of the renowned greek mathematician and astronomer Hypatia. Also making appearances in this fast and furious show are Victorian spiritualist Florence Cook, renowned 1920s magician, indeed the acknowledged queen of them, Adelaide Herrmann with her famous Bullet Trick, and Vera Rubin, the discoverer of dark matter.

What binds them all together is that they each, in their own medium, attempted to illuminate the world through entertainment or learning. Clearly what also binds them together, like our young cast of Gemma Barnett, Sophie Kean, Anna Marks Pryce and Abby McCann, is that they are all women and, of course, therein lies the problem. They are players in a man’s world, science and magic are traditionally male domains.

Without seriously cracking the feminist whip this whip smart company do indeed enlighten us with dance (What? In the Anatomy lab of Summerhall?  Yes), music, projection and a poetic approach to language that guides this theatrical missile through the blue reaches of the outer universe with the same accuracy as Adelaide Hermann’s renowned Bullet Trick.

Plato makes an entrance as it’s his philosophy of Perpetual Darkness that drives scientific discovery.  The more we know seemingly the more there is still to know and escaping back into the light is a Sysyphian task.

This is an inventive and enthralling production with universally strong performances and a script that in other hands could have really struggled to engage but in this company exploded with joy and resonance.

‘AETHER‘ is at Summerhall – Anatomy Lecture Theatre until Mon 25 Aug 2025 at 19:15