A co-production between Grid Iron and Lung Ha Theatre Company, in association with The Festival Theatre. Part of Edinburgh International Science Festival.
“Do you hear the tinkle of the bells? The distant tinkle of the bells? We are at the gates. And we know the four digit code.”
In an age where genetic perfection is held up as the quintessential path to a happy, fulfilled life, is there increasingly little space for difference in our society? Are we sleep-walking into a new age of eugenics, or is Huxley’s Brave New World still hundreds of years away?
We, enter, behind doors that should be closed, a lab which might determine the future of our race… But someone is trying to break into this perfectly controlled world, to pose their difference as a joyous alternative, to make their voices heard.
Winner of the ‘Critics Awards for Theatre in Scotland’ – Best Ensemble Production 2009/2010
Informatics Forum – University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh: 01 – 08 (not 04) April 2010
Huxley’s Lab
Reviews
“Those “naturals” are played by the disabled actors of Lung Ha’s, as is the self-hating mastermind, Professor Huxley (Stephen Tait). Their presence – joyful, vulgar, defiant – is a stinging reminder of what happens when eugenics is applied to the splendid variety of real life. Harrison’s script successfully connects a crackpot theory from the 1930s to today. All too convincingly, the staff promote an atomised lifestyle that rejects the messiness of the family in favour of pneumatic bodies and pornographic pleasure. Quoting the infamous Kate Moss line, “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels,” the play brilliantly engages with a deep neurosis in our “fitter, better, more productive” time.”
Mark Fisher – The Guardian