PET PET
  • My Account
  • Subscribe
Become a Friend Donate
  • About Us
    • People
    • Press Office
    • Our History
  • Get Involved
    • Become a Friend of PET
    • Volunteer
    • Campaigns
    • Writing Scheme
    • Partnership and Sponsorship
    • Advertise with Us
  • Donate
    • Become a Friend of PET
  • BioNews
    • News
    • Comment
    • Reviews
    • Elsewhere
    • Topics
    • Glossary
    • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Previous Events
  • Engagement
    • Policy and Projects
      • Resources
    • Education
  • Jobs & Opportunities
  • Contact Us
  • About Us
    • People
    • Press Office
    • Our History
  • Get Involved
    • Become a Friend of PET
    • Volunteer
    • Campaigns
    • Writing Scheme
    • Partnership and Sponsorship
    • Advertise with Us
  • Donate
    • Become a Friend of PET
  • BioNews
    • News
    • Comment
    • Reviews
    • Elsewhere
    • Topics
    • Glossary
    • Newsletters
  • Events
    • Upcoming Events
    • Previous Events
  • Engagement
    • Policy and Projects
      • Resources
    • Education
  • Jobs & Opportunities
  • Contact Us
  • My Account
  • Subscribe
  • Privacy Statement
  • Advertising Policy
  • Thanks and Acknowledgements
PETBioNewsReviewsTheatre Review: Breeders

BioNews

Theatre Review: Breeders

Published 29 September 2014 posted in Reviews and appears in BioNews 773

Author

Daniel Malynn

Image by Bill McConkey via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts sperm swimming towards an egg.
CC BY 4.0
Image by Bill McConkey via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts sperm swimming towards an egg.

This fast-paced comedy written by Ben Ockrent and directed by Tamara Harvey boasts an impressive cast, and deals with its themes in an honest and intelligent way...

This fast-paced comedy written by
Ben Ockrent and directed by Tamara Harvey boasts an impressive cast, and deals
with its themes in an honest and intelligent way.

The play
follows the minor power couple Andrea and Caroline. Andrea, played by Tamzin
Outhwaite, is the author of some amusingly named self-help books. She has just
moved in to a large home with long-term partner Caroline (Angela Griffin), a
successful family law solicitor who has just been made partner. It seems they
have it all but there's still one thing they really want - a baby.

Andrea wants a child
genetically linked to both of them, and one boozy Christmas the couple asks Andrea's underachieving brother Jimmy (Nicholas
Burns) to be their sperm donor. At which point, Jimmy's doubtful girlfriend
Sharon (Jemima Rooper) is also added to the mix.

Along the way
there are Swedish covers of 80s pop; a stitch-inducing rendition of Bonnie
Tyler's 'Total Eclipse of the Heart' by Jemima Rooper had me in physical pain
from laughter.

The performance
got off to a bumpy start with some technical issues, but this only served to get
the audience behind the actors. The cast were
excellent, and the intimate nature of the staging at the St. James Theatre made me
feel as if I were there in the living room with them. While this play may be
categorised as comedy, it was much more than that, and although it explored the underlying
humour to be found in heightened emotional states, the humour didn't detract
from the drama. There were several moments where I had both kinds of tears in my
eyes.

Tamzin
Outhwaite gave a particularly powerful performance as obsessive Andrea spearheading
the conception campaign and forcing both Caroline and Jimmy into ever-more
ridiculous fertility-boosting regimes. The play showed not just how hard
conception can be practically but also the toll that trying to conceive can
take on family finances and on relationships.

The play's tag-line
is 'the path to parenthood isn't always straight', playing up Caroline and
Andrea's relationship, but that is only part of the story. During a break in
their relationship Sharon has a one-night-stand and becomes pregnant; what ensues
shows that parenthood isn't easy or simple for anyone, not just gay couples, and
that modern family life is complex.

As regular
readers will know, it's rare of me to give such a favourable review. So it'd be
unusual if I didn't mention that the first half is a touch on the slow side and
its humour too reliant on the practicalities of sperm sample production.

'Breeders' is on a very limited run of just over
month, so if you want to see it - and I think you should - book now!

Related Articles

Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family (from Greek and Roman mythology) entwined in coils of DNA.
Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family entwined in coils of DNA (based on the figure of Laocoön from Greek and Roman mythology).
Reviews
4 July 2016 • 3 minutes read

Radio Review: Contact

by Andrew Powell

Contact gives us a view of the judiciary from a lesbian, lay client - precisely how is a 'white, straight male in his 60s' going to make a decision about a little girl, her same-sex female parents and her heterosexual father?...

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
Reviews
22 June 2015 • 3 minutes read

Theatre Review: The Empty Frame

by Daniel Malynn

'The Empty Frame' by the PSYCHEdelight theatre company was billed as an edgy and controversial play but fails to go into any previously unexplored territory or bring any new perspectives....

Image by Bill McConkey via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts sperm swimming towards an egg.
CC BY 4.0
Image by Bill McConkey via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts sperm swimming towards an egg.
Reviews
10 February 2014 • 4 minutes read

Film Review: Fonzy

by James Brooks

Fonzy doesn't so much apply the formula of sperm-donor comedy 'Starbuck' as drop it like a concrete slab on an entirely different cultural context...

Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family (from Greek and Roman mythology) entwined in coils of DNA.
Image by Bill Sanderson via the Wellcome Collection, © Wellcome Trust Ltd 1990. Depicts Laocoön and his family entwined in coils of DNA (based on the figure of Laocoön from Greek and Roman mythology).
Reviews
20 January 2014 • 2 minutes read

Film Review: Delivery Man

by Rhys Baker

This remake of sperm donation film 'Starbuck' touches (too briefly) on several heavy-hitting questions on the ethics of sperm donation...

Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
CC0 1.0
Image by Alan Handyside via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a human egg soon after fertilisation, with the two parental pronuclei clearly visible.
Reviews
17 January 2013 • 3 minutes read

TV Review: Donor (episode of Moving On)

by Rachel Lloyd

'All I want is some bodily fluids, are you really going to begrudge me that?' - 'Donor', the third episode in BBC One's contemporary daytime drama series 'Moving On' tackled issues of infertility, sperm donation, parenthood and the societal expectation on women to become mothers...

Image by Sílvia Ferreira, Cristina Lopo and Eileen Gentleman via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a single human stem cell embedded within a porous hydrogel matrix (false colour).
CC BY 4.0
Image by Sílvia Ferreira, Cristina Lopo and Eileen Gentleman via the Wellcome Collection. Depicts a single human stem cell embedded within a porous hydrogel matrix (false-coloured cryogenic scanning electron micrograph).
Reviews
24 September 2012 • 3 minutes read

Theatre Review: A Number

by Dr Lucy Freem

A Number is about identity, ownership, the desire for a second chance and - here's the science hook - reproductive cloning. This tenth anniversary reading of Caryl Churchill's play was followed by a discussion panel...

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

You must be logged in to post a comment.

« Radio Review: Mum and Dad and Mum

Data-Label The UK's Leading Supplier Of Medical Labels & Asset Labels

RetiringDentist.co.uk The UK's Leading M&A Company.
easyfundraising
amazon

This month in BioNews

  • Recent
27 June 2022 • 4 minutes read

Podcast Review: Genetics Unzipped – Have a heart, the science of xenotransplantation

20 June 2022 • 5 minutes read

Documentary Review: Our Father

20 June 2022 • 4 minutes read

Podcast Review: How Far Could Genome Editing Go?

13 June 2022 • 3 minutes read

Podcast Review: Happy Mum Happy Baby – Tom Daley

13 June 2022 • 3 minutes read

Podcast Review: The Outlook – The shocking truth about my three dads

Subscribe to BioNews and other PET updates for free.

Subscribe
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • RSS
Wellcome
Website redevelopment supported by Wellcome.

Website by Impact Media Impact Media

  • Privacy Statement
  • Advertising Policy
  • Thanks and Acknowledgements

© 1992 - 2022 Progress Educational Trust. All rights reserved.

Limited company registered in England and Wales no 07405980 • Registered charity no 1139856

Subscribe to BioNews and other PET updates for free.

Subscribe
PET PET

PET is an independent charity that improves choices for people affected by infertility and genetic conditions.

  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • YouTube
  • RSS
Wellcome
Website redevelopment supported by Wellcome.

Navigation

  • About Us
  • Get Involved
  • Donate
  • BioNews
  • Events
  • Engagement
  • Jobs & Opportunities
  • Contact Us

BioNews

  • News
  • Comment
  • Reviews
  • Elsewhere
  • Topics
  • Glossary
  • Newsletters

Other

  • My Account
  • Subscribe

Website by Impact Media Impact Media

  • Privacy Statement
  • Advertising Policy
  • Thanks and Acknowledgements

© 1992 - 2022 Progress Educational Trust. All rights reserved.

Limited company registered in England and Wales no 07405980 • Registered charity no 1139856