"Amateur or professional, I am so thrilled that one of my plays is to be performed in London". - Marsha Sheiness - Telphone call to the Keefe Browning. March 2001.

AFTER answering a newspaper advert in research and genetical experiments some months before, the mothers of five retarded children gather, for the results of an advanced cerebral medical experiment on their children. A serum, previously only tested on monkeys is now ready for the ultimate - The testing on the brain tissue of a male child!

The experiment, which indubitably includes a generous cash payment as an incentive for the parents of the prospective "guinea pigs", involves a series of injections directly into the brain tissue, and is calculated to change each of the children into a genius - but has the experiment worked?

This psychological drama is set in the waiting room of a specialist clinic in uptown New York City. The play explores the hopes, fears and guilt of each woman and the relationship with their respective children. Tears, tantrums, accusations and denials abound as tensions mount, tempers fray and the expectations of the maternal instinct fall far short of all expectations. Anne-Marie Carlile as the opportunistic Mrs Lewis, Marcelle Clow as the alcoholic Mrs. Todd, Shannon Ludden as sad European immigrant, Mrs. Luther, Sue McAleaney as snooty rich bitch Mrs. Amber, Denise McAleaney as the hard pressed Nurse and Anna York as the young but case-hardened Mrs Evans, and introducing to the Bell stage, Ben Moody as Joe Evans.

My usual backstage stalwarts of Jane Codd, Paul O' Connor and Sarah Farage. What a cast! What a crew! It's been a privilege to work with these people over the last month or two on a very difficult piece of text, and I've also had the added bonus of being in contact with Marsha Sheiness, the playwright, who phones me once a week from New York to ask how rehearsals are going and is only too pleased to offer any help and advice she can from 3000 miles away. Great cast. Great show. So why not take a night off the telly in the first week in July and come down and see it.

Keefe Browning, director.