Playing God | Harry Enfield stars in new play about IVF © BBC/Balloon Entertainment/Colin Hutton

Playing God

Harry Enfield stars in new play about IVF

Harry Enfield is to play God – as well as a host of other roles – in a new London play.

The comedian will also play Karl Marx and characters called Margaret Head and Dr Marshall in the piece, entitled Genesis Inc.

It is about the customers of an IVF company, including a desperate couple who see it as their last chance of parenthood and a woman who freezes her eggs while she focusses on her career.

The cast of the Hampstead Theatre production also includes Arthur Darvill, who played Doctor Who assistant Rory Williams.

Genesis Inc is written by Jemma Kennedy, whose credits include the film Captain Webb, about the first cross-Channel swimmer. In an interview earlier this year she explained that the play was a result of her own experience with IVF.


She told The Guardian: ‘I came out of the experience feeling brutalised. It was nothing physical, it was the attitude of the private sector … It felt like it was all about money. It is the privatisation of reproduction, the final frontier of capitalism.’ 

Enfield made his theatrical debut in Once In A  Lifetime at the Young Vic in 2016, when he won critical praise for his dramatic performance.

Genesis Inc. premieres on June 28, with previews from June 22. It runs until July 28.

Published: 10 May 2018

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