A man questions his father about the possible existence of another estranged son, and the questions opens up a series of events that neither men could ever have expected. Penned by one of the world’s most uncompromising playwrights, Caryl Churchill’s A Number is a beguiling hour-long psychological thriller that blends topical scientific speculation with a stunning portrait of the relationship between fathers and their sons.
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Praise
“3 Stars!”
“Churchill’s harrowing bioethics fable leaves us with a number of things to chew on.”
December 12th, 2010
Caryl Churchill’s neat but untidy cloning conversation piece, written in 2002 at the height of the Dolly-the-sheep media frenzy, is no sci-fi affair. The playwright instead uses the conceit of human cloning as a keenly focused new lens for viewing parent-child relations. At the play’s opening, a young man (Tony Bozzuto) is telling his father (Patrick Blashill) about the unsettling news he’s just received from the hospital: There are more of him out there. The revelation that his son has genetic twins scattered about—not just one or two, but “a number”—unnerves the father, but in a different way; his first move is to assign blame, to anyone but himself.
In BackStage’s production, played out on scenic designer Angela M. Campos’s claustrophobic, hexagon-shaped stage, Blashill is nicely understated as a once-failed dad who wanted to scrap it and start over again—surely an instinct many parents have felt at desperate moments, even if most wouldn’t dream of following through. Bozzuto sharply differentiates three characters who share the same chromosomes: One is timid and passive, another coldly violent, carefree and confident, each with his own subtly discrete physicality and vocal quality. Director Karen Kessler leaves a bit too much air in each of the play’s five movements; even at one hour the production feels just slightly overinflated. But as Blashill crumbles under mounting guilt and, soon, grief, Churchill’s harrowing bioethics fable leaves us with a number of things to chew on.
- Kris Vire, Time Out Chicago
- Kris Vire, Time Out Chicago (Read the full review)
“A tightly wound, but feverish play..”
“With a stark but intriguing design by Angela M. Campos, Karen Kessler’s production is a visually classy affair.”
“Patrick Blashill offers an emotional and moving performance.”
“This will get you and your date, or you and yourself, talking about matters of substance.”
December 12th, 2009
You don’t hear so much these days about Dolly the Sheep, but when Caryl Churchill’s “A Number” was first performed in 2002 (starring Daniel Craig, actually), cloning was a hotly debated issue. First kittens, the widespread worries went, then people.
Churchill’s taut, two-character play (it’s only 70 minutes long) is partly a cautionary riff on the dangers of an unscrupulous someone getting hold of our genes and making more of us — although some of us can’t see much external value in that — and creating a situation where we might one day walk down the street and run into ourselves. But it’s mostly an exploration of how human cloning might explode the natural bonds upon which our lives are built.
Watching Karen Kessler’s new production for the Backstage Theatre Company — an itinerant company currently working at the Building Stage in the theatrically underserved West Loop — one is struck anew by how much more comfortable we’ve become over the past decade with the intrusion of technology in human reproduction. I’d argue that we’re also now less worried — perhaps foolishly — that labs will suddenly start churning out folks for other folks to buy at Wal-Mart. Thus “A Number” does not so much feel like a cutting-edge drama as almost a period piece. Which does not mean it is without interest or potency.
Chris Jones
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Churchill’s tightly wound but feverish play begins with a father (played by Patrick Blashill) being confronted by an only son (Tony Bozzuto) who has just discovered that he is not as “only” as he thought. The play’s conceit, of course, allows the actor playing the son to play not only himself but his clones, and, as the drama progresses, things move in that dramatic direction. To dad’s horror.
With a stark but intriguing design from Angela M. Campos at its center, Kessler’s production is a visually classy, if slightly underpaced, affair. As a man confronted with a crippling explosion of his parental identity, Blashill offers an emotional and, at times, rather moving performance. Churchill clearly intends this culpable character to undergo an agonizing discovery in the classic tragic fashion, and you feel that here. Wisely, Blashill keeps things very much in the present tense. You’re right there with him as he realizes that he has just destroyed the very thing that matters most to his beloved son: his individuality.
Bozzuto, though, has the much tougher assignment, playing three separate characters who happen to share exactly the same face. Bozzuto is an appealing, likeable and spontaneous actor, but his young men aren’t as sharply distinct as would be ideal, nor do he and Kessler fully show us what the trauma of suddenly losing his sense of self is really costing him. This is a life-and-death change in circumstances, as things turn out, yet the stakes in this production don’t fully rise as they should.
But I’ll say this. As a quick amuse bouche before dinner at one of those clone-free West Loop eateries, this will at least get you and your date, or you and yourself, talking about matters of substance.
- Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune
- Chris Jones, Chicago Tribune (Read the full review)
Cast & Crew
Karen Kessler
Director
Karen Kessler is tickled to be working on this amazing play with the talented people at the Backstage Theatre Company. She is also a proud member of the ensemble of A Red Orchid Theatre where she most recently directed the Midwest premier of Louis Slotin Sonata and previously directed the Midwest premier of Pumpgirl by Irish playwright Abbie Spallen, the Chicago premier of Sarah Kane’s Blasted; the US premier of Gagarin’s Way by Gregory Burke (a play that won an After Dark award for Outstanding Ensemble) and the Midwest premier of Mr. Kolpert by David Gieselmann. Other Chicago credits include: Collaboraction’s Sketchbook 2009 – Who Put the Dead Bird in My Mailbox? by Sarah Hammond; the US Premier of Roddy Doyle’s War for Seanachai Theatre; A Going Concern, This Lime Tree Bower, Remembrance, A Mislaid Heaven, and the award winning Early and Often for Famous Door; the Midwest premier of Sam Shepard’s The God of Hell at the Next Theatre; The Trestle at Pope Lick Creek, Wrens, Hamlet and Cyrano de Bergerac for Rivendell Theatre; and the Midwest premier of Steve Martin’s The Underpants for Noble Fool Productions. Credits outside of Chicago include: Glengarry Glen Ross for the Northern Stage Ensemble in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, England; Macbeth for the Notre Dame Shakespeare Festival; Measure for Measure for Connecticut Repertory Theatre; the world premiere of a new adaptation of The Three Musketeers, Scapin, Macbeth, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, The Taming of the Shrew, and All’s Well That Ends Well at the Illinois Shakespeare Festival; and The Merry Wives of Windsor and The Complete History of American (Abridged) for Idaho Repertory Theatre. Karen is an Associate Professor of Directing and Shakespeare at Ball State University in Indiana.
Jen Poulin
Stage Manager
Jen Poulin is thrilled to serve BackStage Theatre Company as Associate Artistic Director. Her journey began with a magical experience stage managing Aunt Dan and Lemon in 2009. She has also stage managed A Number, Three Days of Rain, and Memory. This season, Jen directed the first two installments of The Listening Series, BackStage's new off-night adventure. Other projects for 2012 include stage managing The Cripple of Inishmaan at Redtwist Theatre, and directing Savage Land for the 2012 Dionysis Cup Festival of New Plays, hosted by Polarity Ensemble Theatre. She has had the pleasure of working with many fine Chicago companies, including Strawdog Theatre Company, WildClaw Theatre, Serendipity Theatre Collective, Steep Theatre Company, Mary Arrchie Theatre Company, and Silk Road Theatre Project. Jen holds a BFA in Theatre Studies from University of Illinois, Urbana/Champaign. Love and thanks to our excellent production team and cast, family and friends, and The Boy.
Patrick Blashill
Salter
Patrick has been an ensemble member with Lifeline Theatre since 1996 and has been performing at various Chicago theatre’s for the past 20 years. Favorite roles include the Father in Sarah Ruhl’s Eurydice, Old Bailey in Neverwhere, and Edgar Drake in The Piano Tuner (After Dark award for outstanding performance). Other favorite roles include Ferdinand the bull in The Story of Ferdinand, the Mighty Gorilla in The Snarkout Boys and the Avocado of Death (later remounted for Chicago Theatre on the Air with guest star Brent Spiner), Victor in Lizard Music, Hugh Thane in The Talisman Ring, Tom in Pistols for Two (Jeff citation nomination for Best Ensemble), and Bunter in Strong Poison (Jeff citation nomination for Best Ensemble). He is especially proud to have acted in all three books of Lifeline’s Lord of the Rings trilogy that spanned The Fellowship of the Ring (Bilbo Baggins-1997), The Two Towers (Frodo-2000), and The Return of the King (Frodo-2002). Patrick has worked with numerous other Chicago theatres (including an opportunity to play Mr. Knightley in Reverie Theatre’s adaptation of Jane Austen’s Emma) including Victory Gardens, Organic Lab, Theatre on the Lake, Stage Left, and Shakespeare’s Motley Crew. Patrick is a graduate of the American Academy of Dramatic Arts.
Tony Bozzuto
Bernards/Michael
He was last seen in the Jeff Recommended Memory and Orange Flower Water, and in On An Average Day. For about seven years, Tony has been honored to work his way around the Chicago theatre scene with such talented companies as Lifeline Theatre, Next Theatre, Metropolis PAC, and, of course, BackStage Theatre Co. Whether on stage, television or film, Tony credits much of his skills and successes to his studies at the incomparable Hilberry Theatre in Detroit, MI, where he received his MFA.
Angela Campos
Scenic and Props Designer
Heath Hays
Lighting Designer
Heath is a BackStage Ensemble member, where he has designed set for On An Average Day, The Memory of Water, Beauty on the Vine, Bloody Bess and Zombies from the Beyond as well as the Jeff-recommended shows Waiting for Lefty and Medea. He also designed sound for BackStage's The Ruling Class and Seanachi Theatre's drama Whistle in the Dark. He designed set for Infamous Conmmonwealth Theatre's Keely and Du, GreyZelda's Jeff-recommended production of A View From The Bridge as well as their Desire Under the Elms, and Hell in a Handbag's Caged Dames. Heath has also worked for Grounded Theatre, Arena Dinner Theatre, and Village Players.
Megan E. Sullivan
Costume Designer
Megan is a director, choreographer, instructor, designer, and performer of theatre, dance, and music. Hailing from the ‘burbs of Detroit, she received a degree in Music Education from Central Michigan University while performing and working in the University Music and Theatre Departments, Highlands Playhouse (NC), and Vision Studio of Performing Arts, Inc. (MI). Following graduation, Megan served four years as Artistic Director/CEO of VSPA, Inc. and began working as a freelance artist. She was invited to ensemble membership with BackStage Theatre Company while working as Costume Designer for Anton in Show Business, and has worked additionally as Specialty Designer (Flags), Costume Assistance- Terra Nova; Assistant Director, Stage Manager/Board Operator- Denise Druczewski’s Inferno; MUSE, Production Manager, Co-Sound Designer, Co-Music Director- The Skin of Our Teeth; Music Director, Choreographer- The Ruling Class; Director/Choreographer- Zombies from the Beyond; Properties Designer/Set Dresser- On An Average Day; Properties Designer/Set Dresser- Aunt Dan and Lemon; Production Manager, Properties Designer- Orange Flower Water; Production Manager, Costume Designer- The Play About the Baby; Associate Artistic Director- BSTC 2005 and 2006 seasons. Megan is currently an in-demand director, instructor, and performer in various genres and groups in Chicago and is proudly married to Sean Sullivan (ensemble member), whom she met while working in BSTC. Her favorite artistic experiences outside of BSTC include performing CONNIE in Good News with Director August W. Staub, BEBE in A Chorus Line with Director/Choreographer Linda Talcott-Lee, and an intimate Master Class with Tony-award winning Ann Reinking.
Angela Campos - Scenic and Props Designer
Joe Court - Sound Designer
