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A Number
By Caryl Churchill
Directed by BJ Jones
At Next Theatre in the
Noyes Cultural Center
927 Noyes Street
Evanston, IL
Call 847-475-1875, tickets $20 - $35
Thursdays at 7:30 PM
Fridays & Saturdays at 8 PM
Sundays at 2 PM
Additional Monday performance on Feb 20 at 7 PM
Running time is 50 minutes
Through February 26, 2006
A Number is a mesmerizing provocative look at cloning
Next Theatre sure lives up to their mission statement “devoted to socially provocative, artistically adventurous work” with influential British playwright Caryl Churchill’s new play, A Number. This chilling two-hander is destined to be one of the most talked about works of the year. It sure is one of the year’s best productions.
In 50 minutes of charged, mind-numbing, thought-provoking drama, Churchill tells the story of a father-son conflict ripe in 21st Century bio-tech plausibility. What if parts of your genetic material were taken from you and a copy or many copies of it were made leaving the world full of clones of you? How would you react? What if you met several of your clones? These penetrating  questions are scary.
The 63 year old father, Salter (John Judd at his dramatic best) is confronted by Bernard (Jay Whittaker in a riveting complex, icy rage), Salter’s son who discovers that he was allowed to be cloned by Salter, who didn’t know that he was cloned 20 times. The first son was the source and he was left up for adoption. Why? Questions, acquisitions, betrayals, admissions abound as the two confront their pain and bewilderment at the life altering information. Filled with penetratingly pointed questions about science, ethics, morality, nature versus nurture and the meaning of “identity,” this smartly written, emotionally wrenching drama will have you on the edge of your seat for the full 50 minutes.
With effective lighting by Diane D. Fairchild on Brian Sidney Bembridge’s V-shaped black box set giving A Number a futuristic, almost space ship look adds to the eerie tone of the show. Told in five scenes were we meet Bernard, the son, age 40, played with a growing rage by Jay Whittaker and Bernard, another clone son, age 35, (also by Whittaker as sly and vengeful) and Michael Black, his son, also 35, and a clone, played as a smiley, jovial optimistic person by Whittaker.
John Judd goes through all the stages of guilt, laced with excuses, apologies and admissions of weakness and remorse especially as he finds out that there were many clones made. Judd demonstrates his acting talent as Salter. We listen closely to Salter’s excuses and alibis. Terrific work here.
Judd’s reaction to Jay Whittaker’s razor-sharp indictment as the Bernard(s) was scary, telling and engaging. Whittaker’s perfect English accent with a slight lilt of Scottish speaks to his classical training and his Shakespearian experience. His eloquence hammered home his rage, his rising emotional state that gave this show the tension of a mystery as we wonder how and why all this happened?. Whittaker’s Michael Black was so different from the Bernards that I almost thought another actor was playing him. Whittaker can change identities easily. He is a master craftsman.
Jay Whittaker and John Judd gave powerful performances that deftly define the complications of cloning from a society, family and individual perspective. This is tremendous theatre containing intelligent ideas delivered with extraordinary skill, tightly directed and paced by BJ Jones to exploit all of Churchill’s chilling themes. Cloning needs to be earmarked for debate and A Number sure gets that started.
Not To Be Missed
Tom Williams
Tom99@chicagocritic.com for comments
Talk Theatre in Chicago Radio show
This show is eligible for a C.S.T. Equity Theatre Award
January 30, 2006
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