Roberto Trotta and Laura Cameron-Lewis

An Italian astrophysicist and a Hebridean theatre director discuss ancient storytelling traditions, how language shapes the way we think, interstellar travel, aliens, climate change, dark matter, and the end of the Universe, as they work together on a unique new show, The Edge of the Sky | Oir Nan Speur.

Show Notes

Is it possible to explain the mysteries of the Universe using only the 1000 most commonly used words in English? Or Gaelic?

The Edge of the Sky | Oir Nan Speur is a unique new theatre show, adapted from a book in which award-winning science communicator Roberto Trotta tries to explain some of the most complex ideas in astronomy using only the 1000 most commonly used words in the English language. For the stage version, Hebridean theatre director Laura Cameron-Lewis has added another challenge – what if you add the 1000 most commonly used words in Gaelic to that list? 

Episode 7 of our podcast is a fascinating meeting of minds in which Roberto and Laura discuss everything from ancient storytelling traditions and how language shapes the way we think to interstellar travel, aliens, climate change, dark matter, and the end of the Universe.

The Edge of the Sky | Oir Nan Speur is produced by sruth-mara and supported by Creative Scotland and Bord na Gaidhlig.

What is Hebridean Dark Skies Festival podcast?

The Hebridean Dark Skies Festival presents a series of interviews with fascinating people from the worlds of astronomy, psychology, and the arts, exploring our festival themes of winter, darkness and the night sky. The podcasts are presented by festival director Andrew Eaton-Lewis, with sound mixed by Hamish Brown.

The Hebridean Dark Skies Festival is an ambitious annual programme of events taking place each February on the Isle of Lewis, including live music, film, visual art, theatre, astronomy talks, and stargazing. To find out more visit www.lanntair.com/darkskies.

The festival is led by An Lanntair arts centre in Stornoway in partnership with Stornoway Astronomical Society, Calanais Visitor Centre, Gallan Head Community Trust, and Lews Castle College UHI. The festival is supported by Caledonian MacBrayne, Highlands and Islands Enterprise and the Culture & Business Fund. For its first three years it was part-financed by the Scottish Government and the European Community Outer Hebrides Leader 2014-2020 programme.