When science offers you the chance to look into the future of your own health, or your family’s, would you always want to know?
Following a two-year research partnership with the UK’s only charity dedicated to the prediction and prevention of breast cancer; Prevent Breast Cancer, Genesis is a brand new play from acclaimed playwright Frazer Flintham.
Taking inspiration from interviews with medical professionals as well as patients and their families, the production was initially developed with the late Morag Siller (Coronation Street, Emmerdale, Holby City and Benedict Cumberbatch’s Hamlet).
The project continues in her memory after Morag died of breast cancer in April 2016. Coronation Street co-star and breast cancer survivor Sally Dynevor (known to viewers as Sally Metcalfe) succeeds in her role as an advocate of the project.
Flintham explores the complex human dilemmas around preventative medicine through the character of leading geneticist Rachel. Rachel identifies gene mutations that increase the risk of developing breast cancer – allowing action to be taken before the disease has even had chance to develop.
Whether it is surgery or a course of drugs, it is all about prevention. But on discovering that she and her daughter might be carrying a gene mutation themselves, Rachel starts to wonder if predicting illness through science throws up more questions than it can answer.
Sally Dynevor said: “In order to build a breast cancer-free future, prediction and prevention are imperative. This play is about telling the human side of science. It addresses the incredibly difficult emotional journey we embark on when we are told we can potentially avoid rather than survive cancer by being told our predicted risk.”
Running alongside the production, Forward Theatre Project will create a legacy strand including an educational project with young women on body image, a photography exhibition of mastectomy patients, self-esteem workshops for cancer sufferers and a live streaming of the production.
This will enable the conversations stimulated by the show to continue long after its tour comes to an end.
The production coincides with Manchester being awarded the prestigious European City of Science 2016. Genesis will premiere in Salford, the original inspiration for the fictional town of Weatherfield in which Coronation Street is set.
Director Charlotte Bennett said “At Forward Theatre Project we create theatre which is community-driven, high in ambition, challenging and thought-provoking. Throughout ‘Genesis’, audiences will be invited into the debate about the ethics of preventative measures which are being employed across a range of diseases today.”
11 – 12 Nov
The Lowry
The Quays, Pier 8, The Quays, Salford M50 3AZ
8pm (2.30pm matinee on 12th) | £12 (£10 concs)
