It’s happened. The ultimate scientific breakthrough. Boffins discover a drug that heals everything.
Max is a scientist in a secret lab who stumbles on a cure for all diseases. His boss, Judy, decides to sell it privately to millionaires but Max wants it distributed free to everyone. He smuggles out a batch of samples to a nearby hospital. When his teenage daughter, Felicity, joins the rebellion, Judy orders a junior researcher, Vic, to guard her. But they fall in love and together they plot to seize control of the lab. Meanwhile Judy has a secret plan to deal with the troublemakers permanently.
One Jab Cures All asks a question that scientists don’t want to hear: if they cured everything would they tell us?
One Jab Cures All is a slightly absurd very funny comedy that takes a look at what would happen if a pharma company created a vaccine that cured all medical diseases. What would be the benefits, the fallouts, the humanitarian and the commercial perspectives.
As a four-hander there is plenty of scope to inject these concepts into the personalities. There’s the “dad” who’s head of the research team, his colleague who’s rather corporate, a lab technician who’s love, hobbies and true interests lie outside work and an accidental young woman who’s embroiled as the daughter, God-daughter and other ways that become apparent in the second half.
The characters have all behaved in a manner aligned to bawdy seaside humour and their stories are drip-fed to the audience for the chuckles. I won’t give them away as spoilers but they are the sorts of stories said from behind a twitching net curtain by your grandmother.
The first half of the play is mainly setup as we learn about the characters and some of the unseen characters. It’s the second half that comes into its own with plot twists and turns. The section where the power goes on and off provides some classic comedy moments teased into the play by director Matthew Parker. Laugh out loud funny!
The one-room set works and the lighting rig was surprisingly well-equipped.
Grab a large from the pub on the way in, sit back and enjoy!
Photo credit Lidia Crisafulli
Cast
Rob Pomfret plays Dr Max, the biochemist who makes the discovery.
Sophie MacKall plays Dr Judy, his boss and former lover.
Jay Warn plays Vic, ‘the genius’, who has an IQ of 138.
Lauren Whitehill plays Felicity, the teenage rebel with a mystery boyfriend.
January 14th – 31st
Weds-Friday, 7.30 pm
Saturday 6 pm
Theatre at the Tabard
2, Bath Rd, London W4 1LW
www.Tabard.org.uk
https://tabard.ticketsolve.com/ticketbooth/shows/1173669407