A Child of Science, Bristol Old Vic Review
Jamie Glover (Patrick Steptoe), Tom Felton (Robert Edwards) in A Child of Science. Photo by Helen Murray.Written by Eliott for Theatre & Tonic
Disclaimer: Gifted tickets in exchange for an honest review.
There are moments throughout Gareth Farr’s A Child of Science, that truly have you suspended in motion and transfixed on the words and presence of those on stage; Jamie Glover, portraying Patrick Steptoe, and Adelle Leonce as Margaret, share the same qualities in which have you focused on their arcs as we watch them, for over a decade, in their stories that interweave and climax with a scene so fix in memory due to the colossal casting and truth in the writing that Farr presents. A Child of Science tells the story of how IVF (In vitro fertilisation) came to be, with Farr and Director Matthew Dunster’s real experience with the treatment resonating clearly as the beating heart of the play.
The idea of hope is so deeply rooted in the timeline, that we soon learn that even when there are breakthrough moments in the process of creating a live embryo outside of the body, we cannot get too invested in what we’re seeing, as whether it’s based on location and lack of resources, or the process being so early in development, we see how this affects Patrick Steptoe, Robert Edwards (Tom Felton), and Jean Purdy (Meg Bellamy). With pressure from the national press at the time, and worries of nurses going breaking the news in exchange for a whole years worth of salary, the toll it has on the trio is carried through by the performances, but it’s Meg Bellamy here that shines in empathy that is quite often excluded from the other characters, whether she is addressing the brave women who are coming forwards for the treatment, or to her colleagues, and taking reins of the situation at hand.
Matthew Dunster creates an environment on stage that has the feeling at times of a hurtling train, where tension and pressure play a fundamental part, and it’s electrifying to see. From the opening scene with heightened emotions and a soundscape so atmospheric that it sucks you right into the heart of the action, to more sombre and pindrop moments later in the production, Dunster’s real life experiences can be felt, in wanting to deliver a piece of theatre which is incredibly important, and opening the show in the heart of Bristol, the city in which is so rightfully poignant for this kind of theatre.
The use of sliding frames that project location and years, plus stain-glass paintings, is an effective way in which Anna Fleischle has managed to give us a journey through the years, without having to distract us from the truth of the writing, with Angelica Rush providing a costume palette that exceeds in taking us back to the 1960 / 70’s. There’s odd choices I feel in having a chorus coming on through projections, with lyrical moments not quite suiting the tone of the production, characters not feeling fully fleshed out, plus the final beat of the story that feels like it’s been taken straight out of a certain Disney movie, but the heart of the story still remains; A Child of Science is a remarkable piece of writing that is held together with some exceptional performances, and a creative team who have put their own experiences onto the stage with a beating heart in execution.
At Bristol Old Vic until 6 July.
☆ ☆ ☆ ☆
