{"id":1528,"date":"2009-05-05T13:23:04","date_gmt":"2009-05-05T12:23:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mcrrview.web.its.manchester.ac.uk\/blog\/?p=391"},"modified":"2016-02-05T19:35:20","modified_gmt":"2016-02-05T18:35:20","slug":"a-number-the-library-theatre","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=1528","title":{"rendered":"<em>A Number<\/em>, Caryl Churchill, The Library Theatre"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"0cm 0cm 0pt;\"><span style=\"Times New Roman;\">Caryl Churchill, <em>A Number<\/em>, The Library Theatre until May 9<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"0cm 0cm 0pt;\"><span style=\"Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"0cm 0cm 0pt;\"><span style=\"Times New Roman;\">Caryl Churchill\u2019s 2002 play deals with a contentious issue, human cloning, but is as interested in making cloning into a metaphor as it is in ethics and science. <span style=\"yes;\">\u00a0<\/span>The play\u2019s success depends on a difficult balance between argument and feeling, exploring ideas <em>and<\/em> manipulating its audience\u2019s emotions.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"0cm 0cm 0pt;\"><span style=\"Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"0cm 0cm 0pt;\"><span style=\"Times New Roman;\">In this production, the play\u2019s airy, sometimes abstract conversations <em>are<\/em> well grounded in the realist set and the confident exchanges between John Benfield (as Salter, the father) and Daniel Casey, who plays three of his sons (the natural son, the adopted cloned son, and the unknown cloned son). <span style=\"yes;\">\u00a0<\/span>The play hinges on Casey\u2019s performance and he does a terrific job in varying his voice and appearance, tormented and thuggish as one son, sensitive as another, and playing the role with a matter-of-fact imperturbability as the third. <span style=\"yes;\">\u00a0<\/span>Their conversations play out familiar arguments about scientific research, and our inability to think ethically about the \u2018science of the possible\u2019. <span style=\"yes;\">\u00a0<\/span>Churchill is cogent and wry, presenting the father\u2019s immediate interest in pursuing legal damages (another \u2018number\u2019) alongside the sons\u2019 existential terror at the fact of replication.<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"0cm 0cm 0pt;\"><span style=\"Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"0cm 0cm 0pt;\"><span style=\"Times New Roman;\">Is the play more than a provoking think-piece about cloning? <span style=\"yes;\">\u00a0\u00a0<\/span>This production suggests at least two other ways of approaching the text. Salter\u2019s encounters with his first-born son, in particular, are visceral and affecting, and his rivalry with his brothers and rage at his father are convincing and gripping. <span style=\"yes;\">\u00a0<\/span>The play is so deftly written that it also holds up as a critique of authority and destiny, with both sons and father lamenting the absent god who has \u2018done a number,\u2019 abandoning them to their near-identical fates. <span style=\"yes;\">\u00a0<\/span>At just over an hour, then, <em>A Number<\/em> is well worth seeing: there are not many writers or productions which can juggle together a number of different ideas and styles so tellingly. <\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"0cm 0cm 0pt;\"><span style=\"Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"0cm 0cm 0pt;\"><span style=\"Times New Roman;\">John McAuliffe<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"MsoNormal\" style=\"0cm 0cm 0pt;\"><em><span style=\"Times New Roman;\">\u00a0<\/span><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Caryl Churchill, A Number, The Library Theatre until May 9 \u00a0 Caryl Churchill\u2019s 2002 play deals with a contentious issue, human cloning, but is as interested in making cloning into a metaphor as it is in ethics and science. \u00a0The play\u2019s success depends on a difficult balance between argument and feeling, exploring ideas and manipulating [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":[]},"categories":[283,17],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.2.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>A Number, Caryl Churchill, The Library Theatre - The Manchester Review<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=1528\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"A Number, Caryl Churchill, The Library Theatre - The Manchester Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Caryl Churchill, A Number, The Library Theatre until May 9 \u00a0 Caryl Churchill\u2019s 2002 play deals with a contentious issue, human cloning, but is as interested in making cloning into a metaphor as it is in ethics and science. \u00a0The play\u2019s success depends on a difficult balance between argument and feeling, exploring ideas and manipulating [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=1528\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Manchester Review\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-05-05T12:23:04+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2016-02-05T18:35:20+00:00\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John McAuliffe\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"John McAuliffe\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=1528\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=1528\",\"name\":\"A Number, Caryl Churchill, The Library Theatre - The Manchester Review\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2009-05-05T12:23:04+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2016-02-05T18:35:20+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/2ae6b03495b0f875dd9fa5cdaaac13dc\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=1528#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=1528\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=1528#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"A Number, Caryl Churchill, The Library Theatre\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/\",\"name\":\"The Manchester Review\",\"description\":\"The Manchester Review\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/2ae6b03495b0f875dd9fa5cdaaac13dc\",\"name\":\"John McAuliffe\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif\",\"caption\":\"John McAuliffe\"},\"description\":\"John McAuliffe co-founded the Centre for New Writing at The University of Manchester in 2007. He is a founder and editor of The Manchester Review, and also runs the online poetry digest, The Page. He has published four books with The Gallery Press, most recently Of All Places (2011) and The Way In (2015), which was joint winner of the 2016 Michael Hartnett Award.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?author=22\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"A Number, Caryl Churchill, The Library Theatre - The Manchester Review","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=1528","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"A Number, Caryl Churchill, The Library Theatre - The Manchester Review","og_description":"Caryl Churchill, A Number, The Library Theatre until May 9 \u00a0 Caryl Churchill\u2019s 2002 play deals with a contentious issue, human cloning, but is as interested in making cloning into a metaphor as it is in ethics and science. \u00a0The play\u2019s success depends on a difficult balance between argument and feeling, exploring ideas and manipulating [&hellip;]","og_url":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=1528","og_site_name":"The Manchester Review","article_published_time":"2009-05-05T12:23:04+00:00","article_modified_time":"2016-02-05T18:35:20+00:00","author":"John McAuliffe","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"John McAuliffe","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=1528","url":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=1528","name":"A Number, Caryl Churchill, The Library Theatre - The Manchester Review","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#website"},"datePublished":"2009-05-05T12:23:04+00:00","dateModified":"2016-02-05T18:35:20+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/2ae6b03495b0f875dd9fa5cdaaac13dc"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=1528#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=1528"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?p=1528#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"A Number, Caryl Churchill, The Library Theatre"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#website","url":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/","name":"The Manchester Review","description":"The Manchester Review","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/2ae6b03495b0f875dd9fa5cdaaac13dc","name":"John McAuliffe","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/wp-includes\/images\/blank.gif","caption":"John McAuliffe"},"description":"John McAuliffe co-founded the Centre for New Writing at The University of Manchester in 2007. He is a founder and editor of The Manchester Review, and also runs the online poetry digest, The Page. He has published four books with The Gallery Press, most recently Of All Places (2011) and The Way In (2015), which was joint winner of the 2016 Michael Hartnett Award.","url":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/?author=22"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2PuXo-oE","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1528"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/22"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1528"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1528\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5997,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1528\/revisions\/5997"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.themanchesterreview.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}