After a few years based at the Finborough, the annual Papatango playwrighting prize
has moved to a new home with roughly twice the seating capacity, in Southwark
Playhouse's Little space. This year's winner, James Rushbrooke, taps into the
current trend for plays about science with
Tomcat. In a not-too-distant
future, genetic screening of foetuses has resulted in the eradication of most
illnesses, but at the cost of roughly one in four pregnancies being terminated - a
legal requirement if a scan finds anything out of the ordinary. A subculture does
exist that rejects this degree of state interference, so there are a few exceptions
- one of them is 12-year-old Jessie (Eleanor Worthington-Cox,) who's been kept under
observation by the authorities since they discovered her at the age of three. She's
lived in the same windowless room since then, forbidden from touching people or
making any sudden moves: According to her genetic makeup, she might be a psychopath.
