Review: A Child of Science, Bristol Old Vic – ‘A remarkable play with an extraordinary, emotional pulse’

If we start at the end, the end is just the beginning. The beginning of life. The beginning of a new era of hope and opportunity.

The advent of IVF, marked by the very first birth of human life created in vitro – that of Louise Brown, Bristol-based and here amongst us for the world premiere of A Child of Science.

This remarkable play spans 20 years of scientific resolve and immense personal bravery, moves from London to Oldham to Cambridge and back again, and yet entirely transcends time and geography.

Gruffudd Glyn as Alan Carter and Meg Bellamy as Jean Purdy in A Child of Science, Bristol Old Vic

Writer Gareth Farr was inspired to tell the tale following conversations with an embryologist during his and his partner’s own IVF journey. The play has that undeniable personal edge, a resonance that reaches out into the hearts of silent theatregoers and poses challenging questions; the sort of grandiose, existential turns you can’t quite capture in a review. But you feel them.

Patrick Steptoe, an early proponent of laparoscopy, fails to produce initial data on its merits and faces stern opposition from suits. From the get-go we traverse the problematic, patriarchal landscape of mid-20th century medicine, with Steptoe haunted by the tragic loss of a patient. Her sporadic reappearance in bloody robes serves as a harrowing reminder of the stakes.

Jamie Glover as Patrick Steptoe and Tom Felton as Robert Edwards

Jamie Glover’s presence and punchy voice make Steptoe an endearing, winning figure throughout, and his scenes intersperse with the work of Robert Edwards, who moves from mammalian lab work to human tissue.

Tom Felton is brilliant as Bob, bringing a single-mindedness and constant tension to his work alongside burgeoning assistant Jean Purdy, depicted with wonderful nuance by Meg Bellamy.

Tom Felton as Robert Edwards

When the three protagonists come together, so commences cell division in pursuit of healthy blastocysts, but not without conflict aplenty, both between characters and at a larger, moral level.

Accusations of ‘playing God’ culminate with the (potentially verbatim?) speech from Pope John Paul I, whose moral scruples warned that IVF would render women ‘baby factories’.

Gruffudd Glyn, Everal A Walsh and Saikat Ahamed

Amid further pressure from insatiable press and subsequent funding cuts, Steptoe stands firm and bellows Schopenhauer: “First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as self-evident”. I suppose that final stage is the lens through which we now view the play, and one makes its contents all the more astounding.

There’s no stone unturned in this production. It’s sleek from start-to-finish, with an elite cast across the board, tight direction at every beat from Matthew Dunster, and Anna Fleischle’s set design working in terrific tandem to create seamless transitions and dazzling depth.

Adelle Leonce as Margaret

Granted, some of the scene switches feel a little frantic, but such is the scope of the story and the will to weave together narrative strands. The music is largely ethereal, with cult-like harmonies about childbearing, purpose, and resolve. We’re never far from a faint, underlying heartbeat or the wheeling of medical apparatus, either.

Played with immaculate zeal and emotional tenderness by Adelle Leonce, Margaret Isherwood is Patient 38 – a hardy, recurrent visitor to the trial site. We follow Isherwood and her husband through passages of hope, heartbreak, persistence, grit, and all the rest besides; it is largely through the tenderness of that family dynamic that we see the potential of IVF evolve.

Bobby Hirston as Trevor, Adelle Leonce as Margaret and Bebe Sanders as Anne

A Child of Science is about resolution, resilience, and opportunity. In its coverage of scientific pioneering, it has shades of another fine story once told on this stage – Dr Semmelweis – in which the staggering Mark Rylance played the architect of modern antiseptic medicine.

Both plays ask the question: what does it take to change the world? The answer is not a simple one, but all the ingredients are there in A Child of Science — brilliant, unwavering research, the brave everyman (read: everywoman), and an enduring sense of service and sacrifice.

Tom Felton as Robert Edwards and Bebe Sanders as Ruth

Patrick Steptoe, Robert Edwards, and Jean Purdy paved the way for what IVF is today — a procedure that has supported the birth of over 12 million babies worldwide since 1978.

But the story’s extraordinary, emotional pulse is that of the regular families whose will and want for children allowed the practice to progress in the face of countless challenges. It is their role, both in this play and in history, that makes for a celebration of life.

Sonoya Mizuno as Lilian Lincoln Howell and Tom Felton as Robert Edwards

A Child of Science is at Bristol Old Vic from June 5-July 6 at 7.30pm, with additional 2.30pm matinee shows on Thursday and Saturday. Tickets are available from www.bristololdvic.org.uk.

All photos: Helen Murray

Read next:

• In rehearsal for ‘A Child of Science’ at Bristol Old Vic
• New state-of-the-art fertility and IVF clinic to open in Bristol
• Stories behind Bristol’s oldest IVF centre