Number: a Mini-Review [1 cent]

We went to the opening play of Studio Theater's season last night.

Ted van Griethuysen and Tom Story each do an astounding job in Caryl Churchill's new play "A Number". van Griethuysen plays an old alcoholic, whose world has clearly gone awry. Story plays his son, as well as two others who are his son's clones.

The storyline is, while not perfectly clear, fairly simple. van Griethuysen was married to a depressed woman who committed suicide by jumping in front of a subway train, leaving him with a young son. As a grieving alcoholic, with who knows what other problems, van Griethuysen was unable to raise his son as he would have liked, and it showed. At some point, it appears that his son was taken from him. But before this was done, or at least when he had some say, van Griethuysen arranges for his son to be cloned, so he can try again. He raises the second son, with better luck.

It turns out, however, that the cloners made 20 clones of van Griethuysen's son, not one, and this throws everything psychologically off-base. The cloned, but home-bred, son turns against van Griethuysen, claiming he no longer has any identity. The original son reappears and murders the first clone. The original son commits suicide. A subsequent clone appears, and turns out to be perfectly normal, an employed young man with a family.

Playing three clones who are genetically the same, but different as to background is a challenge that Story pulls off well. The play raises some obvious interesting questions about parenting, cloning, genes vs. environment, etc. Churchill's dialogue is remarkably good, and the actors bring out its best.

"A Number" is a one act play, only 60 minutes long. It ends abruptly without sufficient resolution. It is as if the waiter clears off the table before you have finished the main course. This play has been performed previously in London (according to the program). Whether changes have been made to that production, I do not know, but I would suggest that Churchill still has some work to do on the ending of the play. The audience does not need a dessert course, but it is a shame to leave a part of such a good entree on your plate.