Robin Mckie THE OBSERVER REVIEW 25 August 1996
Annie Kay is a promising athlete struck down in her teens by Friedreich's ataxia, a rare, inherited muscle disorder that dooms victims to life in a wheelchair. Annie is devastated: her mother flails herself for being the condition's unwitting carrier. Her brother, Ryan, wallows in guilt; as his adored sister decays, he thrives.

It sounds mawkish stuff. Yet this material, in the deft hands of playwright Nicola Baldwin, makes The Gift striking drama, powered by strong performances. Even the background science is touchingly illuminated. In explaining her condition to Ryan, Annie reveals how genes come in pairs, one inherited from each parent. If one malfunctions, the other provides back up, like a plane's second engine. But Annie movingly performed by Germaine Elliott - has inherited two dud genes. 'Both my engines are on fire,' she says, 'I'm shot down in flames.'

The production, by Y Touring, is unusual for the sophistication of its blending of art and science and for the intricate issues it raises: what criteria are acceptable when selecting human life and to what extent does modern genetic knowledge change our views of free will?

Increasingly, our society will have to answer such questions.
The torments of the Kay household will soon be replayed in countless homes as geneticists spot rogue genes that ruin lives. Works like the Gift - which raise key ethical questions without giving glib answers are important in preparing us for that future.

While - the televised version of Crick and Watson's unravelling of DNA's structure gave us the background science in digestible form. and Lorenzo's Oil provided a glimpse of the raw emotions let loose when families are afflicted by inherited ailments, The Gift aims to make audiences think for themselves.

As the play progresses, Ryan, who is a symptom less carrier of the disease marries Jennifer, who is also a carrier. The couple face a one in four chance of having an ataxic baby.
So Jennifer's eggs are fertilised in the laboratory, and those with Friedreich's genes discarded. But which of the healthy remainder should be put back in Jennifer? She wants one picked at random, but Ryan insists on selecting one with the best gene profile for an athlete.

The play ends 16 Years later with his adolescent son upbraiding his father for this selection: 'You didn't have me for my own sake, but as an extension of yourself.'

At the production's finale, the audience joins in a debate. Yes, it was OK to out those carrying Friedreich's genes, but few thought that Ryan should then be allowed to select one of the unaffected embryos in order to have a child who will not be persecuted for being puny and non-athletic, as he was.

Randomness is central to our expectations for ensuring the richness and diversity of human life, it seems.

Roderick Graham THE SCOTSMAN 24th August 1996
Annie Kay is a teenage athlete, headed for fame and a place in the England women’s football squad, when she is discovered to be suffering from Friedreich’s ataxia, an inherited genetic disease which will, in time, reduce her to a mumbling vegetable. Her brother, Ryan, is a carrier of the gene but will not develop the disease himself. However, flashing into the future, his wife also has the faulty gene and there is a one in four chance that their children will develop the disease. Ryan is able to choose an embryo that has been genetically selected not to possess the gene and has the potential to become a top athlete.

This is a play which raises many fundamental questions about the use of knowledge and the applications of science, but it is written with more feeling for the human condition than for the scientific argument. These are real domestic situations brilliantly acted by an extremely talented cast, and their reactions to the situations in which they find themselves has the audience on the edge of its seat.The issues it raises will be debated for some time to come.

Lynn Gardner THE GUARDIAN 28th October 1996.
Annie is 16 and a promising footballer when she starts having episodes of unsteadiness. Friedreich’s ataxia, a crippling inherited condition of the central nervous system, is diagnosed.

Fast-forward a generation to 2026 and Annie’s nephew Mark, a talented tennis player, is turning 16. He has no fear of Friedreich’s: his parents made sure of that with genetic selection. In fact, Mark’s dad went one step better, choosing to have the fertilised egg with the best genetic profile implanted in his wife’s womb. Their boy is programmed for sporting excellence.

When Mark finds out, he is devastated: “Couldn’t you love me fat or stupid, ungainly or slow? Couldn’t you love me for me?”

Nicola Baldwin’s play aimed at 13 – 16 year olds, succeeds in making genetics understandable while never underestimating the knotty moral issues surrounding testing, screening and therapy.

Like so much issue-based work, the words win over the visuals, and the imparting of information over theatricality. But it is a strongly characterised challenging piece.

Director: Nigel Townsend
Aassociate Director - Education: Nicola Black
Designer: Ben Dickens
Casting: Director Derek Barnes

Cast

Ryan Kaye: Dominic Gerrard
Annie Kaye: Ffion jolly
Barbara Kaye: Hilary Burns
Mark Kaye: Simon Kirkson
Jennifer Kaye: Karianne Flaathen

	For further information about this project, email our Tour Producer David Jackson