Clones Expose a Moral Dilemma. "A Number" by Caryl Churchill. State Theatre of South Australia [review]

Abstract

Whenever the subject of cloning human beings is raised, images from cinema science fiction are never far behind. With herds of mindless, robotic replicants - whether the smooth limbed Aryans in Blade Runner or the nasty battalions of squelchy orcs in The Lord of the Rings - they invariably equate cloning, or some similar form of duplication, with mass production and the machinations of evil-doers. But what if cloning was for much more likely human reasons - to replace a loved one who has died, a child for instance, and what if there was only one