Whose Life Is It Anyway?

A brilliant battle of wits takes place in this extraordinary play. Ken Harrison, a successful sculptor, is paralyzed in a car accident and kept alive by support systems in a hospital.

Play title: Whose Life Is It Anyway?

Author (s): Brian Clark

Publisher: The Dramatic Publishing Company

Publication Date: 1980

Genre: Drama

Primary Discipline: Medicine

Scientist (s): Fictional

Source Texts: Unknown

Character Breakdown: 9 Men, 5 Women

Ken Harrison, Sister Anderson, Kay Sadler, John, Dr. Joan Scott, Dr. Michael Emerson, Mrs. Gilliam Boyle, Philip Hill, Dr. Paul Travers, Peter Kershaw, Mr. Justice Millhouse, Andrew Eden, Dr. Barr, Night Sister

Setting: A hospital in England

Time Period: The Present

Synopsis of Play: A brilliant battle of wits takes place in this extraordinary play. Ken Harrison, a successful sculptor, is paralyzed in a car accident and kept alive by support systems in a hospital. Outwardly he’s cheerful and often very funny, but he’s overwhelmed by the fact that he has lost control of his own life. As the play begins, he is coming to the decision that if he can’t live as a man, he does not want to exist as a medical achievement. His physician, however, is utterly determined to preserve Ken’s life, regardless of its quality. Finally, despite the pleas of the doctor and his involved nurse, Ken invokes the law of habeas corpus and a judge joins the battle to determine “Whose Life Is It Anyway?” https://www.dramaticpublishing.com/browse/full-length-plays/whose-life-is-it-anyway

First Performance Date: March 6th, 1978

First Producer: Mermaid Theatre, London

Performance History: Whose Life Is It Anyway? by Brian Clark was adapted from his 1972 television play of the same title, which starred Ian McShane. The stage version premiered in 1978 at the Mermaid Theatre in London, and opened on Broadway in 1979.

Links:

https://www.nytimes.com/1981/12/02/movies/whose-life-is-it-anyway.html

https://variety.com/2000/legit/reviews/whose-life-is-it-anyway-2-1200461313/

http://articles.latimes.com/1991-12-19/news/vl-824_1_living-nightmare

https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/theatre-review-whose-life-is-it-anyway-comedy-theatre-london-sw1-0870-060-6637-1528936.html

https://www.timeout.com/london/film/whose-life-is-it-anyway

https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2005/jan/26/theatre

https://www.dailyinfo.co.uk/feature/12817/whose-life-is-it-anyway#review66041

http://www.oxfordtimes.co.uk/leisure/theatre/theatre/reviews/15628074.Whose_Life_is_it_Anyway____Oxford_Mathematical_Institute_-___39_A_believable__and_funny__picture_of_hospital_life__39_/

https://people.com/archive/picks-and-pans-review-whose-life-is-it-anyway-vol-16-no-25/

Entered by: Meaghan Yesford

Photo/Visual Research with citations