5 June – 6 July
Bristol Old Vic and Impossible Producing present; A Child of Science. Written by Gareth Farr | Directed by Matthew Dunster.
In 1978, Patrick Steptoe, Robert Edwards, and Jean Purdy changed the world as we know it – and most people don’t even know their names.
Bruntwood Prize-winning writer Gareth Farr’s brilliant new play tells their pioneering story, and those of the army of women from all over the UK whose immense bravery helped them achieve the impossible – to create human life in vitro.
Faced with fierce criticism and hostility, and hounded by the media for “playing God”, trials were kept largely under wraps. But their determination to give hope to the thousands of families struggling to conceive eventually led to one of the most remarkable medical breakthroughs of our time: the birth of a baby girl and the creation of IVF, a procedure which has supported the birth of over 12 million babies worldwide over the last 45 years.
Directed by the highly acclaimed West End director Matthew Dunster (Hangmen, 2:22 A Ghost Story, Shirley Valentine) and starring Tom Felton (Harry Potter), Jamie Glover (Waterloo Road, Casualty), Meg Bellamy (The Crown), Adelle Leonce (Fool Me Once, Black Mirror), Sonoya Mizuno (House of the Dragon), and more, A Child of Science is about determination, dreams, hope, and courage. It’s a celebration of life.
A Child of Science is a fictionalised account of the true story of the events that led to the first ‘test-tube’ birth of a baby and the invention of IVF. The play is based on research and interviews over many years with embryologists and fertility doctors, some of whom worked closely with Bob Edwards, as well as those whose lives were affected by and enabled by those events. It features characters inspired by real-life individuals, and some entirely imagined by the writer.
Please note that we cannot guarantee the appearance of specific performers. Cast members’ performance schedules are subject to change, including unavailability, holidays or illness.
Bristol Old Vic; https://bristololdvic.org.uk/
