An earnest research scientist turns up at a sleek venture capitalist firm to pitch her idea with a set of old-school index cards. Willa (Letty Thomas) is initially dismissed by young gun May (Millicent Wong) until she realises Willa has found a way to predict cancer in the human body. It’s a sort of medicalised version of the “precrime” technology of Philip K Dick’s Minority Report – except this is not a futuristic landscape but modern-day San Francisco.
May, the ambitious protege of company boss Paul (Lloyd Owen), sees that she has a rare, high-value startup (known as a “unicorn”) in her hands. But the marriage between Willa’s cutting-edge medical technology and Paul’s profit-driven business brings big dilemmas.
Aaron Loeb is a businessman as well as playwright and it shows: his play zings with quickfire patter between May and Paul, a certain Mamet-esque sparring reminiscent of Glengarry Glen Ross. Its aim to show us what might happen when a big scientific breakthrough is funnelled through the machinery of venture capitalism is ambitious but a little too hectic. Pacily directed by Chelsea Walker, it mostly plays out in Paul’s Silicon Valley-style office (sofa, smoothie-maker and full of slick screen interfaces).
Rosie Elnile’s stage design cleverly reconfigures itself in seconds while scenes jump from the Covid era to an undefined near future. Medical discoveries come thick and fast; cures for cancer and Alzheimer’s as well as precures. The capability within Willa’s breakthrough to create designer babies is mentioned. The plot takes on the ethical and political fallout of such science, with a US congressional committee getting involved. An extramarital affair is thrown in, as well as a character with early onset dementia.
It’s all rather hard to digest in around 100 minutes. There are more than a headful of ideas, while the personal stories are too brief to pull at your emotions. Strongly performed, the characters also remain sketchy and sometimes appear hackneyed (Paul with his yoga mat and smoothies, for example).
Paul starts off as an idealist, telling May he wants to save the world. His drive for profit overrides that idealism, perhaps too quickly, but it is not just the capitalist who is the villain here. Willa, as the scientist, throws out deeply problematic views and conspiracy theories on race and genetics which leads her towards rightwing forces. It is, ultimately, a reminder of how pure scientific discovery can never remain “pure”.
At Hampstead theatre, London until 11 April.
