A NUMBER To 9 May.

Manchester.

A NUMBER
by Caryl Churchill.

Library Theatre To 9 May.
Mon-Sat 8pm Mat Thu & Sat 3pm
Audio-described 9 May 3pm.
BSL Signed 7 May 8pm.
Captioned 8 May.
Runs1hr 5min No interval.

TICKETS: 0161 236 7110.
www.librarytheatre.com
Review: Stoon 28 April 2009.

Possibly time’s up for A Number.
When Caryl Churchill’s play premiered to universally rave reviews at the Royal Court in 2002, ‘The Observer’ wrote, “It's crisp, taut and all over in 60 emotionally charged minutes. I wish it could have been longer.” I’d wager that no one at Library on the night I saw it would have demand an encore.

It’s a two-handed affair – father and son – the latter having a slight issue with the former for cloning him when a child. The script doesn’t offer much; it’s part Z-list mad scientist spliced with sound bites from an OU lecture on genetics. The riches of this gene pool lies primarily in the characterisation - it’s top-heavily dependent on the two actors and their contributions but from the opening this sounded like a radio play, something that plays in the background but never demands your attention on anything other than a minimalist level.

There’s a futuristic strand of DNA to the script, but onstage this comes across more ‘Back to the Future’ than ‘Flash Gordon’; maybe the issue’s not as topical as a few years back when cloned sheep threatened to roam wild amongst the killing fields of GM grain crops. The sense of being dated is not helped by the music in between scenes, which attempts menace but ends up sounding like mid-70’s Dr Who tension-rising stuff. The set adds nothing beyond functionality.

John Benfield (Salter) and Daniel Casey play the father/sons interaction with too much earnestness and not enough passion. It’s over-calibrated with too many pauses and hesitancy which dilute the feelings of anger, frustration and regret. And there’s too little chemistry. Neither is there sufficient distinction between the various clones Daniel Casey portrays, slightly blurring the narrative.

There are odd moments, as voices become softer and slower, when we do feel the soul of the affair, but there’s more to be had. As to the precise quantum of ‘how much more’ - well, in comparison to the 2006 Sheffield Theatres production, this number needs to think of itself and then double it.

Salter: John Benfield.
Bernard 1/Bernard 2/Michael: Daniel Casey.

Director: Sarah Punshon.
Designer: Jeremy Daker.
Lighting: Jason Taylor.
Sound/Composer: James Earls-Davis.

2009-05-03 10:01:50