Ben, Howie, Jude and Tariq. Four guys caged in a hospital ward in the name of medical research. Take tablets, give blood, get paid, go home. And with no drink, no caffeine and no smokes, they’re guinea pigs guzzling pills for a fast buck, happy to blank the consequences. All that time to think, and bounce off the walls – and each other. What’s more, you couldn’t find four lab rats more different. At least, that’s what they think – but, deep down, they suspect they’re all surplus to requirements, as obsolete as Betamax. Yet still holding on and still trying to control an uncertain world. Except Jude – the stakes are higher for him because his dad, Frank, is in a different ward of the same hospital being treated for cancer. Jude is angry that Frank isn’t getting the right drugs, while Frank just seems to be taking the long view on a short timescale…

Who is the placebo here?

What choice do you have in your genetic destiny?


Isabel Wright – ‘Scotland’s latest star playwright’ (THE SCOTSMAN) – has been an Associate Playwright at the Traverse since 2001 and is currently Writer in Residence at The Bush Theatre, London. Her plays include Speedrun (Tron), Blooded (Boilerhouse) and the text for Frantic Assembly’s Peepshow (Drum Theatre, Plymouth). Mr Placebo is her first commission for the Traverse.

Since bursting on to the UK theatre scene at the Traverse in the 1994 Edinburgh Festival with his explosive production of Killer Joe by Tracy Letts (which transferred to The Bush Theatre and Vaudeville Theatre, London, 1995), the American Wilson Milam has become one of the leading directors of new work in the UK & Ireland. His other directing credits include Hurly Burly by David Rabe (Peter Hall Company at the Old Vic and Queen’s Theatre, London) and, most recently, The Lieutenant of Inishmore by Martin McDonagh (RSC, 2001; also Garrick Theatre, London, 2002: Evening Standard nomination for Best Play).


For more information on Drum Theatre, Plymouth, visit their web site at www.theatreroyal.com.


(PHOTO: PADDY RILEY)

I was thinking last night how one of us might be the placebo guy, you know where they give you nothing so they can compare. And then in ten years time something might happen to one of us cos this drug we’re testing has some effect they never knew about. And we’ll all say ‘I wish I’d been the placebo guy’