It is some time in the future and the Faith Party has taken control. People’s genes are ‘coded’ to be checked for their innate suitability for positions within society. Christianity is the law and God’s decision is that humanity cannot mutate genes to help those who are ill, we cannot play at creator. It is into this ‘brave new world’ that Rachel Welch has thrown her characters, giving this essentially relationship driven drama a much more powerfully charged edge than most and asking often difficult questions of both it’s actors and audience.
Cohen, a geneticist and Dorset are brother and sister and are both sufferers of DBD, a degenerative disease which attacks the colon. The play opens with them waiting with Tal, a Christian friend, for J who is coming to stay from Manchester to be with Violet his girlfriend who works for the Government. What follows in the confines of Cohen’s tiny ‘pod’ apartment is an exploration into the questions of responsible genetics and the soul, people’s hidden agendas and unrequited love.
Although this is a play which deals primarily with relationships and does so very perceptively and accurately, by setting it against a backdrop of religion and science Rachel Welch has written an incredibly interesting and moving play which fully contextualises each personal battle with society’s much bigger wars. Each relationship is tainted by ‘beliefs’ and each argument takes on a life and death importance due to the high stakes at risk for all concerned. This is not another ‘Closer’ but so much more. Welch’s characters are real people, dangerous but real, dealing with issues which people would die for as well as the pain of selfish actions and unrequited love.
Mokita Productions do well with these complex relationships, for the most part accurately portraying the multi-layered confusion and conflict within each character. Of particular mention are Ben Murray-Watson who brings out the churlishness of Cohen whilst being incredibly charming, Joanna Miller whose Dorset is a fluttering butterfly who has an underlaying and almost unbearably subtle layer of sadness and Jane Lesley as Violet who slithers into the group as venomous as a viper and yet is the only one who seems to speak it straight, the only one who fully recognises herself for who she is. Indeed on the whole the enormity of the issues and the heighten emotion is done justice, and although one or two scenes fall a little flat, the performers throw themselves into Welch’s text wholeheartedly.
Involution is by no means a flawless show, it sometimes feels too big for the small space it is in, the emotion is sometimes ‘played’ and not always felt and the ending is a trifle trite, but this is such an important show that these quibbles seem to melt in comparison. The theatre is meant to be making work such as this, which looks at the possible consequences of our society’s present actions and asks difficult questions without dictating answers. I left the theatre with a head full of ideas and thoughts which have stayed with me for hours after and I cannot say that of many shows (however brilliant they have been) that I have seen this year.
[Honour Bayes]
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