Bernard has spent 35 years believing he’s an only child, one of a kind, until he learns the chilling truth. He’s one of ‘a number’ of clones resulting from a nefarious genetic experiment. When he confronts his father, Salter, questions of identity and morality result in an explosive exchange with dire consequences.
A Number showcases Caryl Churchill’s consummate skill in creating brilliantly compelling drama bristling with ideas, and is directed by another accomplished playwright, Zinnie Harris. This dynamic two-hander is the starting point for a powerful debate about the boundaries and ethics of science.
The excellent performances and Zinnie Harris’s exemplary direction already do justice to Churchill’s intriguing script, in a production that manages simultaneously to reassure and trouble us.
This is a grim tale dripping with lies, legal threats and chilling possibilities that poses a multitude of questions on who and what we are and what forms us as human beings. It is necessarily inconclusive but the resulting tragedy of this particular female free world should in itself be salutary.
A crisp combination of stillness and urgency powers Caryl Churchill’s teasing speculations on identity.
Genuinely engaging revival of an intelligently written, emotionally authentic drama that’s far from being a clone itself.
Zinnie Harris raises questions about individuality in this restaging of Caryl Churchill’s investigation into genetics.
What begins as a play about the ethics of cloning opens up a much richer and more fruitful set of questions about nature and nurture, good and bad parenting, the familial legacies of both genetics and behaviour, and the extent to which one’s actions are inescapably determined by a mixture of the two.
This is not a play about what it means to be a clone, but what it means to be human.
As a piece of theatre, the intellectual intrigue of Churchill’s script struggles to find footing in this underdeveloped and ultimately forgettable production.
The simplicity of the staging allows for an intense connection with a pair of fine performances.
Directed with tremendous focus by leading Scottish playwright Zinnie Harris and designed with a painterly sparseness by Fred Meller, it is an utterly compelling hour of theatre.
Royal Lyceum, Edinburgh from Thursday April 6, 2017, until Saturday April 15, 2017. More info: www.lyceum.org.uk
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