by Caryl Churchill
“Walk round the corner and see yourself you could get a heart attack. Because if that´s me over there who am I?”
A man uses his money to commission a clone: his contractors seize their chance to create twenty more. The talk is of paternal love, and of science, and of good intentions. But who will have to live with the consequences? And who will have to die?
“A taut, chilling two-man work about a desperate father who seeks to duplicate his lost son” – “enormously powerful” – “outstandingly well acted and staged” – “real and truthful in every moment” – “a maelstrom of deep, dark emotions laced with subtle sarcasm and ending with a hint of hope” – “an absolute must-see” – “Science&Theatre, a successful coproduction” (from the reviews in ExBerliner, Die Zeit Online, Neues Deutschland)
Caryl Churchill’s compelling thought-experiment has a single, simple premise: humans have been cloned. In one hour of ferociously intense tragicomedy, she digs down to the roots of personal identity, exposing the hard but brittle bond between fathers and sons and the ultimate cost of evasion. The past can be buried, but it won’t stay down.
A Number was the first production in English Theatre Berlin´s Science & Theatre program.
Supported by
- Thurs, June 3, 2010 | 8pmMain Stage
with 22 additional performances until June 4, 2011
Lecture by Prof. Dr. Jon Beckwith (Harvard Medical School): ”Genetics and Human Behavior. The persistence of failed scientific ideas” / November 7th, 2010
with Patrick Lanagan and Tomas S. Spencer
Directed by Günther Grosser
Set and Costumes: Tomas Fitzpatrick
Lighting Design: Katri Kuusimäki
Directing Assistant + Stage Management: Ruby Grosser
Scientific Coordinator: Prof. Dr. Regine Hengge (Freie Universität Berlin)
Links
- DIE ZEIT on Science & Theatre
- review on berlin-ist.de
- review in NEUES DEUTSCHLAND
- DER TAGESSPIEGEL on Science & Theatre
- English Theatre Berlin´s Science & Theatre project
Caryl Churchills Meisterwerk über menschliches Klonen
Wie also wäre das: Man läuft durch die Strassen und begegnet sich selbst: Wenn das da drüben auch ich ist, wer bin dann ich hier? Was macht mich zum Individuum? Und das, das …. Lebewesen da? Bin ich das noch mal? Wie würden wir empfinden, wenn wir plötzlich erführen, dass derjenige, den wir für unseren Vater gehalten haben, nur mehr der Mann war, der uns in Auftrag gegeben hat? Und all die, die…Lebewesen, die keiner haben will, weil sie nicht perfekt sind? Kommen die dann auf den Müll?