The Burning Glass

The Burning Glass is a 1954 dramatic play by Charles Morgan.

The Burning Glass tells the story of Christopher Terriford, a British scientist who discovers a new method of capturing solar energy. This "burning glass" can greatly benefit mankind, but it can also be used to wipe out distant targets with devastating flame, so like the atomic bomb it holds the potential to destroy mankind. Because of this, Terriford won't give his discovery to the British Government, instead depositing half the formula in a bank and the other half in his wife's memory.

Terriford and the British Prime Minister debate at the intersection of morality, patriotism, conscience, and necessity. Terriford – who wishes he could forget his discovery, but can't – tells the Prime Minister that the time has come for science to withhold knowledge as "we haven't developed at the same time our spiritual or our political qualities... We are like a monstrous giant... There can be a blasphemy of applied science. We have reached that point."

Then dark forces – perhaps Russian agents, but identified only as "The Enemy" – kidnap Terriford. But Terriford refuses to talk and is released. Meanwhile, his wife and associate have undertaken to recreate the burning glass in his absence. His associate, remorseful for having played an inadvertent part in provoking Terriford's kidnapping, fearful of being kidnapped next (and that he is too weak to guard the secret he now knows), and in love with Terriford's wife, commits suicide.

The Burning Glass opened at the Apollo Theatre in London's West End on 18 February 1954 and was a success. The production was directed by Michael Macowan with a cast including Michael Goodliffe, Dorothy Green, Faith Brook, Michael Gough, Robert Speaight, Basil Dignam, and Laurence Naismith.Ludovic Kennedy wrote of the play "Charles Morgan has written the play, not only of the year, but of the decade in which we live". Audrey Williamson wrote that "The plot... involves... a battle of will and conscience, as gripping as any scene of action, between the Prime Minister and the scientist" and "It is a play, with good acting, to fire the stage. And this, at the Apollo Theatre, it did", although "Michael Gough [as Terriford's associate] gave a performance that all but dominated the play. Yet he is not the protagonist, and he should not so dominate. That is the play's weakness, not the actor's. But it is a weakness."

...
Wikipedia