Every Breath

Edinburgh Festival, Hill Street Theatre, from 4 to 28 August. UK tour from September
www.ytouring.org.uk
By Judith Johnson, directed by Nigel Townsend
Y Touring Theatre Company

The term science play will make a lot of teenagers wince. But, Every Breath-yes, a science play, targeted precisely at those impressionable minds-manages to do just the opposite, with a topic as delicate as the ethical dimensions surrounding the use of animals for biomedical research. The play has already completed a six week tour in several schools across London.

Sonny is an 18 year old lad who has asthma. He is a fervent opponent of medical research that involves animals. His 21 year old sister, Anita, is a scientist and is set to join a new animal research centre being established in their town. Anita learns that Sonny has planned to protest against this research centre, and also that he plans to boycott any drugs that were tested on animals, including his inhaler for asthma.

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Against the backdrop of a possible relationship between their mother and an ageing ex-punk, in the context of their father's death from leukaemia, an emotional argument between brother and sister about animal research brings on a severe asthmatic attack in Sonny. His inhaler absent, he is knocked unconscious, and is admitted to hospital. We are then taken through a multitude of arguments for and against the involvement of animals in biomedical research. Sonny finally agrees to use, his inhaler, but only in emergencies.

The play touched upon several dimensions of the controversies surrounding animal experimentation, although not in their entirety. The fundamental difference of opinion between Sonny and Anita lies in Sonny's belief that a human life is not in any way superior to that of an animal, and that every animal has the right to live without being subject to undue human intervention. “Mice are warm, living, breathing animals. What right have you got to hurt them?” he asks Anita.

Anita's stand is clear-knowledge is power, and knowledge gained through animals saves millions of human lives each year. She says, “[Animals are hurt] as little as possible and thousands of human lives are saved. Fourteen hundred people in Britain still die from asthma every year. Imagine how big that would be if the work with animals hadn't been done.” Sonny retorts immediately, “How many animals have died? I bet it's a lot more than 1400.”

At one point, she expresses her own discomfort at the suffering of animals, but concedes that scientists are aware of the problem, and usually make the experimentation as painless to the animals as possible. She concedes, “When you think about it, why should we [humans] have the right [to use animals in laboratories], it is quite a hard question to answer.”

The performance of the actors in the play was commendable. Sonny's character is bound to leave quite a lasting impression, and Anita is portrayed as a typical, if not a stereotypical and clich|$$|Aaed, sceptical scientist. Young people are likely to identify with the central characters of the play, and can therefore place all the arguments in a wider perspective.

The roles played by Anita and Sonny's mother and her prospective boyfriend, the ex-punk Raz, are largely supportive. But they contribute to some of the most hilarious parts of the play. Raz, at one point, wears a T shirt that reads, “Too much sex makes your eyes go fuzzy.” Similarly, when Sonny's mother covertly questions him about the magazine he's reading, hinting that teenagers are usually obsessed with very different magazines, he replies, “I use the internet for that sort of thing.”

The timing of the play couldn't be more appropriate, especially when violence and vandalism threatens to replace a more meaningful approach through debate and consensus in addressing the ethical dilemmas concerning animal research. The spate of threatening letters sent to the shareholders of drugs giant GlaxoSmithKline, are still fresh in our memory. Richard Dawkins, in an interview with the BMJ (2006;332:1294) stated his belief that scientists and shareholders are the easy targets, and hence the attacks. But, it may be true that neither scientists nor the activists may fully understand all the arguments in question-and this is very well reflected in the script of the play.

In many respects, Every Breath is a play of balances. The playwright has so delicately crafted the script that the play does not in any way tip the balance in favour of, or against the argument in question. It was equally astounding to notice that neither the art of story telling nor the scientific debate had been sacrificed in this excellent blend of science and art. Often, it is possible to get so close to the tree that you lose sight of the forest.

I now realise that the areas of clear black and white flanking the grey ones of an ethical problem constitute only a very minute proportion of a larger framework. To illustrate that truth through this work of art is a huge credit to this play.

The script of the play, along with suggested classroom exercises, is available as a book from Oberon Books.