Autodestruct
Burton Taylor Theatre, Tue 13th-Sat 17th March 2001

John Smith is a laboratory technician who, in 1972, is diagnosed with terminal cancer. He chooses to spend the last few months of his life culturing and studying his cancer cells so that, as the technology becomes available in the future, his DNA can be used to generate clones identical to himself. Unknown to themselves, these clones are to be used as experimental organisms to study and understand cancer till its eventual eradication. The play visits the original John, his first clone in 2050, and the last clone, born to be cured in cancer-free 2200.

This is not a play of modest ambition: the dialogue touches on the themes of living life and confronting certain death, on religion, science and the ethics of experimentation, on personal achievement and reward. It poses some interesting questions and just manages to avoid overuse of cliché, though perhaps one mention of the phrase "playing God" would have sufficed. Clearly, it's the work of people who have enjoyed putting it together and have given a lot of thought to the production. Particularly effective are the choreographed sequences representing the growth of John's cells and selection of the clone. The actors make excellent use of the intimacy of the Burton Taylor, which allows even whispers to be heard by the audience. A special mention should go to Pierre Marcus Dubois, playing John's brother Tim, for his extremely credible performance.

In the final scenes of the play, John 8th is awarded the Nobel Prize as the last representative of the clone that cured cancer. At the same time, it's announced that his cell line will be destroyed, and one is also left expecting that this last, disease-free John will accidentally meet a different death, no less brisk than the cancer which threatened his clonal brothers. The play also seems to be suggesting something about the futility of striving to attain immortality - in the final analysis the last John is robbed of identity, even if he does escape death by cancer. Rewarded the Nobel prize for work that he did not do, he remains a mediocrity, derided by both his wife and his colleagues. The play ends with the original John reading the letter that decides the fate of his cell line; we leave feeling as if we have just escaped a futuristic nightmare.

Lina Christopoulou, 13 / 3 / 01