Insufficiency By Carl Djerassi
AT Riverside Studios
13 Aug 12
Andy Jordan Productions presents: Insufficiency
A World Premiere by Carl Djerassi
The “Father” of the Contraceptive Pill presents a comedy of chemical manners
Riverside Studios, London | 20th September to 20th October 2012
Press Night: 7.30pm, Monday 24th September at Riverside Studios (Studio 3)
This ninth play by Carl Djerassi, best known for the synthesis of the Contraceptive Pill which triggered the social revolution of the 1960’s, considers the curious specialism of “bubbleology”, the science of bubbles. Now writing fiction and drama into his ninetieth year, Djerassi has created a series of “science-in-fiction” and “science-in-theatre” works exploring various aspects of science, which have been translated into twenty languages and staged in over one hundred productions across the world.
Polish chemist and bubbleologist Jerzy Krzyz is a new arrival at an American university chemistry department, determined to secure a permanent post. Rivalry gets out of hand when he gives two colleagues blocking his appointment some experimental champagne which turns deadly. Was it an accident or revenge?
The only living person to be included in The Sunday Times list of “The Top Thirty Men of the Millennium” (1999), Carl Djerassi is Emeritus Professor of Chemistry (and Feminist Studies) at Stanford University, also living and working in the UK. He has received twenty seven honorary doctorates and is the only American chemist to be awarded both the National Medal of Science (by President Nixon) and National Medal of Technology, the former ironically given when he was on the infamous “Nixon’s enemies list”. Other numerous awards include the Erasmus Medal of the Academia Europaea, the Perkin Medal of the Society for Chemical Industry (the American Chemical Society’s highest award), the Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Art, and the Great Merit Cross of Germany. An Austrian postage stamp with his image was issued in 2005. He was elected as a foreign member of The Royal Society in 2010.
Carl Djerassi’s UK productions for stage and BBC radio include An Immaculate Misconception (1998), Oxygen (co-written by Roald Hoffmann, 2001), Three on a Couch (2003), Calculus (2004), Phallacy (2005), and Taboos (2006). All have been produced and directed by Andy Jordan. He has also published five novels, six of his plays (including Insufficiency and even his next play, Foreplay), a book of short stories, two volumes of autobiography (the latest about to be published) and a memoir. He comments, “disguising scientific issues under the cloak of fiction it is possible to illustrate ethical dilemmas that frequently are not raised for reasons of discretion, embarrassment, or fear of retribution.”
Andy Jordan Productions Ltd is a leading independent producer of new plays since 2000. Recent productions include: Bette and Joan by Anton Burge (Arts Theatre, West End, 2011), The World According to Bertie by Alexander McCall Smith (Edinburgh Festival, 2011), A Midsummer Night’s Madness (Edinburgh Festival, 2011) and Pythonesque (Edinburgh Festival, 2009).
