Harry Enfield will take to the stage later this year for the world premiere of Genesis Inc at Hampstead Theatre.
Jemma Kennedy’s play, to be directed by Laurie Sansom, will look at the privatisation of human reproduction and the lengths that people will go to defy biology.
Enfield has the intriguing task of playing five different roles, which include a doctor, a woman, God and Karl Marx. It is his first production at Hampstead Theatre, after making his theatre debut in 2016’s Once in a Lifetime at the Young Vic.
Kennedy was inspired to write the play in part by her own “brutalising” personal experience with the private IVF sector.
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She said: “Although I found the experience harrowing, not in a small part due to the impersonality and coldness of the clinic, it was also so absurd and surreal at times, that I found aspects of it profoundly funny. I think many people feel you shouldn’t laugh at this subject because the world of assisted conception is often a world of pain and loss and suffering - but I feel the opposite.”
The cast also includes Arthur Darvill and Clare Perkins, with each cast member playing multiple parts, a few of which include Donna Summer, ‘Serena’s Ovary 1’, a mortgage advisor and Susan Sontag.
Genesis Inc runs at Hampstead Theatre from June 22 - July 28; hampsteadtheatre.com
