CHRISTOPHER Wren loved him; Isaac Newton loathed him. Robert Hooke, polymath genius of the 17th century, provoked intense loyalty, controversy, jealousy and hatred.

Take The Space explore the story of this ingenious man, "our English Leonardo", in the solo play Hanging Hooke, performed by Chris Barnes at the TakeOver 14 festival in the York Theatre Royal Studio on Saturday at 7.45pm.

Hooke was written out of history, yet like Da Vinci, he was a fine artist, a brilliant scientist, an extraordinary engineer and an accomplished architect, but after his death even his portrait strangely disappeared.

Then mysteriously, 300 years later, in 2006, a dusty old manuscript was unearthed in a cupboard in a Hampshire country house. It was the long-lost folio of Robert Hooke. Weeks later, an auction took place at Bonhams, where the now famous papers were expected to fetch four million.

Writer-director Siobhán Nicholas examines 17th century world of new science and discovery to ask whether "England’s Leonardo" was buried by another Da Vinci plot? "In hot-blooded times, passions explode; history is on trial," she says. "Robert Hooke, your time has come."

Tickets can be booked on 01904 623568 or at yorktheatreroyal.co.uk