Choosing Children

A new interactive theatre experience about genetic engineering and the impact it will have on the children we bring into the world

On Tour 2023

See it at:

Attenborough Art Centre
MAC Birmingham
Mansfield Old Library

More announcing soon…

WHEN WE CAN ALTER A CHILD BEFORE THEY ARE BORN
WOULD YOU CHOOSE TO ALTER THE CHILD?
OR THE WORLD THEY COME INTO?

A Thought-Provoking Experience

Choosing Children is a dramatic and interactive live spectacle for an intimate audience. It asks audiences to explore one of the most challenging dilemmas of our time: To what extent should new reproductive technologies impact the type of children we have in the future? And, what might this do for the life chances of the next generation of disabled people? 

Explicitly developed for Blackbox Spaces, Choosing Children is an ‘other worldly’ theatrical experience that questions what we value most about the human condition.

Show More...

Through the use of digital projection and avatars, audiences will experience a transformative narrative, taking them from the birth of the universe to the development of genetic engineering, at which point they will be asked to assume the role of an expectant parent. In this role, audiences will explore the positives and negatives of using genetic engineering on unborn children. The work looks to explore what can be achieved with this technology and the moral implications of using it, by asking the audience to consider a series of critical dilemmas, in which their answers will affect the very nature of the environment they are in through interactive digital technology that is intuitively linked to the set design.

Innovative Digital Access: A Creative Case for Diversity

Choosing Children aims to be fully accessible and inclusive. In every performance, audiences can request British Sign Language, Audio Description, and/or Captioning through an integrated Access System streamed to the AR headset each audience member will wear during the performance.

Meaning audience members can have a uniquely personal and fully accessible experience without any other audience members being aware

Programmers Pack:

Request a programmers pack by emailing info@benfredericks.co.uk

Creative Team

CREATIVE DIRECTOR – Ben Fredericks
PRODUCER – Mark Mallabone
WRITTEN BY: Ben Fredericks, Nicky Watkinson, & Shey Hargreaves
SCIENTIFIC ADVISOR: Dr. Jenny Jolly

Show More...

COSTUME: Lauren Pulford
SET: Ingrid Hu
VIDEO DESIGN: Ben Glover
PROGRAMMING: Dominic Mathuse
ADDITIONAL ACCESS DEVELOPMENT: Joe Strickland
CONCEPT DESIGN DEVELOPMENT: Above and Below Studio