I'd read about the possibility of animal to human transplants before I began this project, but I didn't then realise that they could begin at any time. Either ourselves, or someone we know could be faced with the same kind of choices that Ryan and Gemma face in Pig in the Middle.

Scientific progress happens so fast that books and videos etc., soon become out of date. The place to look for new scientific happenings are news programmes, the internet and newspapers.

So often though the media tells the story in a sensational or over-the-top-way, which is anything but helpful. Dolly the cloned sheep is becoming a celebrity, but does this help us understand the issues involved?

Articles on pig to human kidney transplants are illustrated with pigs' heads stuck onto people's bodies - amusing maybe, but far removed from the facts.

New and controversial medical treatments are too often treated as if they are science fiction or a story from The X Files. It's easy to forget that these things actually affect us, and the world we live in.

In writing this play, I've tried to show how the issue of xenotransplantation will affect real people. The decision Ryan has to make is something any one of us may have to face in the near future.

About Judy

Judy's first play Everlasting Rose was produced in 1992 at The Old Red Lion for the London New Play Festival.

She has gone on to write for the Royal Court Upstairs: Ashes and Sand - winner of the George Divine Award 1994, Bruises in conjunction with the Soho Theatre Company - winner of the Verity Bargate Award 1994; for The Room at Richmond Orange Tree: Temple, The Girlz to be performed March 1998; for Red Room: The Shorewatchers' House; Stealing Souls, People on the River and Sun Spots which transferred to the BAC; for the Channel Theatre Company, To Blusher with Love at the Man in the Moon. Last autumn BBC Radio 4 broadcast Tissue Memory and Long Time Man

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