Photo: Mark HamiltonDr Richard Garfield has given Ursula a difficult choice. She is the Mother Superior in waiting of a convent that has been given the opportunity to take part in his revolutionary scientific study. This American study would require that the Nuns donate their brains after death to potentially unlock the mysteries of Alzheimer’s and dementia.
Ursula must weigh up the value of preserving her faith, versus embracing science.
The study is agreed and Richard and his team come to the convent every year to test the Nuns who are willing to take part. This union will change their lives forever. For Ursula, with the impending pressure of taking over the ailing convent, the study brings more challenges than she could ever have imagined and rocks her faith and her hitherto cloistered existence to its core.
Drawing on research contained within the book and study Aging with Grace, 27 is an extraordinary examination of a lifestyle in decline, but it could hold the key to the issues of our times – our ageing population and the decline of our minds.
Abi Morgan is a BAFTA Award-winning writer who has written for television, film and theatre. Her plays include Skinned, Sleeping Around and Tiny Dynamite. She was recently commissioned by BBC 2 to create The Hour, a new drama series set in a 1950s London newsroom.
Beattie's grief-stricken roar makes you shudder as the play becomes a touching lament for the absolute in a volatile world.
It’s a play that invites reflection, and certainly deserves rewatching.
Injecting extra dilemmas with strands and details that would work better on television, is unnecessary in a play which might be fundamentally short on plot but is big on ideas.
The last half hour in particular is spellbindingly good.
This is not a wasted evening of theatre; the play’s themes are important, and some of the performances well worth seeing. At the moment, though, 27 looks less like a finished play, and more like a confused and unedited work in progress, now overwhelmed by the weight of a huge production that it cannot match, in strength, structure or substance.
It’s a deeply emotional, considered production that will stay with you long after you’ve left the theatre.
The play, constantly billed as reactionary by Featherstone and Morgan, isn’t necessarily a potent enough comment on our brittle impermanence.
Yet another drama which falls into the category of “ambitious failure”.
Director Vicky Featherstone walks us through the science bit then stands well back as the powerful ensemble cast works out how the hell to deal with the massive, scary issues it raises.
While it contains some strong performances for Beattie and Le Provost, and while both Morgan and Featherstone do need to be congratulated for bringing such a challenging, relevant and thoughtful play to the stage, 27 although staged with care and understanding, is a disappointing production.
The final portion of the play does draw together the various threads in a dynamic and moving conclusion, but some rather more ruthless editing would undoubtedly have allowed the play’s provocative themes to shine through more clearly.
First seen at the Royal Lyceum last October, Vicky Featherstone’s production is now more than 20 minutes shorter, and seems much more clearly focussed on the central relationship between Ursula and Miriam, and the magnificent performances of Maureen Beattie and Colette O’Neil in these two roles.
Theatre director Vicky Featherstone discusses Abi Morgan-penned drama 27
Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh from Friday October 21, 2011, until Saturday November 12, 2011. More info: www.lyceum.org.uk
Citizens' Theatre, Glasgow from Thursday May 17, 2012, until Saturday May 26, 2012. More info: www.citz.co.uk
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