TABOOS (by Carl Djerassi)

Review excerpts

(London run at New End Theatre, Feb. – April 2006)

This is a MUST see play, by far one of the best performances I’ve seen and another major triumph for everyone involved.... You’ll definitely walk away thinking about where you stand on the issues it raises.

Marcela Olivares, IndieLONDON (www.indielondon.co.uk)

TABOOS is an excellent piece of work that is multi-layered and intelligently written. It’s a thought-provoking play that’s a pleasure to watch and includes stand-out performances from the whole cast. It’s a highly recommended night at the theatre.

Charlotte Cooper, Rainbow Network (www.rainbownetwork.com)

A play that’s worth seeing because it explores complex moral and ethical dilemmas - many of which may seem insoluble.

Peter Brown, London Theatre (www.londontheatre.co.uk)

Entertaining and thought-provoking play…. We may think we are ethics-savvy in this day and age, but the reality may be something else entirely. The bestowal of this awareness, in the end, is one of the best things about TABOOS.

Jennifer Rohn, LabLit (www.lablit.com/article/87)

Funny sexy science takes centre stage.

The Press (Hendon & Finchley edition), March 9, 2006

Lovely performances… enchanting. Djerassi gives us a lot to think about confused family relationships resulting from scientific experimentation… Black comedy.

Aline Waites, Ham & High, March 10, 2006, p. VIII

Taboos really couldn’t be more current... The changes we are witnessing in Djerassi’s “Sex in an age of mechanical reproduction” throws up serious ethical dilemmas, but they also offer exciting opportunities to renegotiate the social and political networks in which we operate.

Helen Birtwistle, Culture Wars, March 13, 2006 (www.culturewars.org.uk)

Having grappled with such issues as test-tube reproduction and scientific fraud, Djerassi now explores the implications of modern fertility techniques or, as one character describes it, “a spectacularly complicated reproductive mess among adults, not all of them consenting… a comedy fertilised by a “what if?” case study.

Ian Johns, The Times (London), March 15, 2006.

A stage full of scientific and ethical viewpoints… Djerassi manages to make this comedy of genetic muddle strangely gripping.

Fiona Mountford, Evening Standard (London), March 15, 2006.

Ultimately, the issues the play raises about the power that new reproductive technologies give us, and the choices we may have to make because of them, are issues that society as a whole will have to face.

Alom Shana, Resonance Productions (www.resonancetv.com/tvtimes), March 19, 2006

The show is... entertaining, and in the end leaves you with a new perception on artificial pregnancies, especially the role of the donor parent.

Emanuel Nordrum, CityNeighbours (www.cityneighbours.com/articles)

This thought provoking, hugely enjoyable play should not be missed.

Judith M Steiner, Theatreworld Internet Magazine

Sparks fly when Harriet and Sally try for a baby.

Hannah Glickstein, Camden New Journal, March 22, 2006.

Rugby ball theatre... there are exciting complications at every turn. In the ethical crossfire that follows, Djerassi seems to have weighted the arguments as evenly as possible.

Kieron Quirke, Time Out (London), March 29, 2006.