A Number

“… a complex and humane study of parental guilt, regret and responsibility and what it really means to be a father or son.” The Guardian

A Number tackles profound questions of identity and notions of “self” as it unknots the tangled story between a father and son.

Forty years ago Salter’s life hits rock bottom. He needed to change the way he lived and the way he was raising his son, Bernard. But Bernard had been so neglected that he was out of control and no longer the beautiful baby Salter remembered. Salter’s solution was to have the boy cloned and give the original son to the state. Salter raised the clone in idyllic conditions.

Fast forward to the present day and Salter’s clone is a grown man. Disturbing hospital records reveal that not only is he a clone but he is just one among “a number” of clones that were secretly made. Now the son confronts his father about the truth of his past and his identity.

Tom Darnall plays the father, Salter
Adam Houghton plays the son and clones, Bernard 1, Bernard 2, and Michael Black.

A Number is presented by special arrangement with Samuel French, Inc.