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.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
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
2017, Oxford Mathematical Institute 2017, Oxford Mathematical Institute
2017, Oxford Mathematical Institute 2017, Oxford Mathematical Institute
2014, The Cultch, Photo: Tim Matheson 2014, The Cultch, Photo: Tim Matheson
2014, The Cultch, Photo: Tim Matheson 2014, The Cultch, Photo: Tim Matheson
2014, The Cultch, Photo: Tim Matheson 2014, The Cultch, Photo: Tim Matheson